Kuroi Namida
by MoonlightShadowMaiden
Summary: Sakura left to get stronger and to learn more about her past. But, no one could ever guess how much one girl could change the people around her from other worlds, to the infamous Akatsuki. But which world will she choose? SakuxMany. M for language.
1. Prologue: Self

**Hey guys, long time no write! So, I'm (finally) back! I know that I've said that I'll be posting some in the near future... well, I lied. Anyways, thank you for following through with Cruel Angel (those of you who have read it and have kindly reviewed!) This is my new story: Kuroi Namida (Black Tears). **

**This is different from Cruel Angel because instead of starting it off with Sakura being all powerful and badass, I'm gonna start off with her weak and continue the story through a bit of her training and then where she shows everyone that she's not a weakling! Of course, this will also be a reversed harem (I only like reverse harems, now with Sakura cause she's just too good for one and I will warn you guys now that in the end, probably, she will not end up with anyone, cause seriously, Cruel Angel's ending nearly broke my heart when I had to pair her up with Sasuke... ). So, I hope that I'm not going to disappoint you guys in my second fanfic!  
Oh right, I am currently having a block on future antagonists so I'll be posting a poll later for you to choose what bad guy you want.**

**So, a tiny little summary: Sakura, being fed up with being weak, asks to leave which Tsunade grants her. Follow her through her journey from going to different worlds, to living with the most renown S-class criminals of her time, and finally going home. But where exactly is home? Konoha? Akatsuki? Or one of the many worlds she has been to? She must choose in which world she belongs.**

**So anyways, it was tiny, cause, I'm seriously not good with summaries. Stories, I can, summaries... not my thing. So... on with the story!**

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**Prologue:** **Self**

They had left…

They had left her…

They had _abandoned _her…

Those were the thoughts of the pink-haired chunnin as she stared at the intimidating gates of Konoha. Tears stung her eyes as she tried to keep them from falling… just staring. The harsh winds that signaled winter was to come howled through the city, but she took no heed to it as her waist length hair, tied in a low ponytail, was blown into her face.

Her left hand traveled to her lap, where two pictures in cheap brown wooden frames lay. One was, of course, the famed and well known Team 7… or what some liked to call _Cursed_ Team 7; the team who had a traitor, a demon vessel, and a weak little girl with pink hair. The second frame was of her 'parents'. Her foster parents. They, who right after the attack of Sound in the former chunnin exams, fled and also abandoned her, like the people who she thought as her teammates… her friends.

Kakashi, Naruto, Sai and even Yamato had left in search of Sasuke just this morning. The moon now hung at its highest point, telling travelers that it was midnight. She thought about them so much, everyday of her life from the moment when her name was called to be in that same god forsaken team. So that when they left… she felt empty… alone… and unable to figure out who she really was.

Who was she? Who was Haruno Sakura? Where did she come from? Who are her parents? Where are they?

_Who am I?_

That question haunted her mind like a plague. She couldn't sleep well anymore, every night, she would lay in her bed, sleepless, looking at the brown ceiling; she couldn't eat because of the stress put upon her psychologically. Tsunade tried to ease her anguish by getting others to talk to her. But the more she looked at them… the more she became secluded as she watched them from afar, talking, laughing… being together.

She reached her limit one day, just when she thought she could get over it, just when she thought that it didn't matter... She heard her dream. She saw her dream… being lived by someone else. Her dream life… given away to someone else.

And who do you ask who that lucky someone was? It was no other than Tsunade's daughter. Yes, she has a daughter.

_I had just come back from a shift at the hospital and made my way to the Hokage tower, devoid of all life. I didn't knock, for I was always welcomed here. As I entered, I heard a melancholic and almost sad sigh come from the Godaime. The said woman was sitting at her desk, for once, not drinking. She was staring at a picture. Actually, the desk was full of pictures. _

_I came closer and caught a glimpse of photo with a blue haired woman with hazel eyes. She was smiling, holding a small child in her arms. There was something peculiar about these photos though. The people in them didn't seem to actually pose for the picture. They were either caught from a distance, or up close but never in the eyes. These pictures were taken without the person's notice, that's why._

"_Tsunade-sama," I started, "Who are these people?" _

_She snapped out of her reverie at the sound of my voice and just smiled before answering._

"_Would you believe me if I said, she is my daughter?"_

_I was shocked… but that was just the understatement of the year._

"_Y-Your Daughter?"_

_Tsunade chuckled at my - what I would think- priceless face._

"_Yes. She's mine. And Dan's."_

_I recognized the name as her deceased lover. Wait a minute… they did _that _at such an age? I shuddered at the mental image but quickly shook it away._

"_When did you have her?"_

"_When I was 19. And don't look at me like that! I knew perfectly well what I was doing!"_

_I gave her a skeptical look that said, 'Yeah, sure ya did.'_

_The blond just smiled and waved me over. _

"_Here, when she was a baby. I was too young. And a baby meant responsibilities and probably the end of my shinobi career. I had to let her go. It was the hardest thing I did in my life… after all, I just found out right after Dan's death. But I couldn't leave my job. And I thought that she would have a better future with a loving mother… not one that might die at any given moment in time."_

_So it started from there where she told me the story of her daughter's life. How she was adopted by a young couple living in Yukigakure, where she went to ninja school (I guess the genes went through). She had a hard-working team and they aced everything. The pictures of those particular moments clenched at my heart. Mawata is her name, a gentle and kind girl. She grew up to be a jounin medic-nin with the same team, they were inseparable. When she was 23, she married one of her teammates, who happened to be, ironically, an ice-cube, slightly emo kid. Her other teammate cheered them on and, of course, was the best man at the splendid wedding._

_She had her first boy at 24 and I realized that Naruto wasn't lying… Tsunade really was a grandma. When her son was three years old, she resigned being a ninja and became a full time medic. She then had her second son at 26 and finally a daughter at 30. Now, she still lived in Yukigakure with her three children, the oldest was currently 26, was jounin sensei, married an Iwa girl and now has a one year old daughter (Uh… Tsunade is already a great-grandma actually!) , the middle boy, 24, was, surprisingly, the medic-nin of the family, while the girl, 22, didn't have anything to do with being a ninja but kept a tea salon and was getting married this summer to her manager. A very cute looking guy, if I do say so myself._

_I realized that this was my dream (scratch out that my mother is only 19 years older than me) life. Here I was, looking at the life I had always wanted… when I didn't even know myself._

That day, I realized that I had nothing here anymore, save two people, Tsunade, who has been like a mother to me and Shizune, like a sister. They were my family. And the decision I'm making right now might shock them… but I've got to do this, on my own. And I doubt that chance would just waltz in and bring me what I'm looking for… whatever I'm looking for. So the only other way is to go find it.

A week after Tsunade had shared her biggest secret to me, I went to her, backpack full of ninja scrolls and various weapons to give back, my hitai-ate clutched in my hand and my head bowed down. Shizune and Tsunade both understood and accepted my choice with little resistance… somewhat. Except Shizune… who hugged my leg to keep me from going.

There were only two other people who unintentionally and unfortunately for her, overheard the conversation.

Normal POV

"Why?" he asked. Sakura couldn't look him in the eyes because… it was sorely obvious why. She saw his fists clench and unclench. She took a peek hesitatingly up at the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Neji… I… I need to do this." She explained, letting her head drop once more.

"No, you don't," the other boy interjected, for once, he was deadly serious. "You don't have to."

"Shika... you… don't understand."

"Then enlighten us!" the Nara exclaimed uncharacteristically.

Sakura looked between the Nara and Hyuuga prodigies. She looked for a way out of here. They were currently in her apartment. It was small, but comfortable for someone like her, perfect if you don't come home much.

She fell to her knees and the two immediately were by her side.

"Sakura!"  
"What's wrong?"

"It hurts." She confessed. "It hurts so much." She closed her eyes tightly, unconsciously putting a hand over her heart.

By now, the two prodigies were livid. They were _so _going to kick Team 7's asses when they came back. They didn't know how far they had gone this time. They shared a look, knowing what the other was thinking, they really only wanted the best for her.

Shikamaru sighed in resignation, "Fine."

Sakura looked up, not believing what she was hearing from the lazy nin and turned to look at the other who gave her simple nod, but both looked very forlorn with their decision. She smiled sadly at them.

"Thank you…"

That night, the two nins didn't really want to leave, so they spent the night at Sakura's place. She defiantly said no, telling them that they didn't have to. But they wanted to. So, without having a say in it, she found herself securely in between the two prodigies, not perversely, more like comfortingly. They were comforting her, because they really weren't good with words and they cared… a lot… for the pink haired medic nin.

(a/n: okay peoples, they did not and will not do anything! They are still and will stay pure! So please get your heads out of the gutter! xD)

Sakura had grudgingly accepted, but inside, she was happy, glad that some people didn't forget her... that someone still cares. She slept soundly, her cheek pressed against Neji's bare chest. It was her fetish. Whenever they got together and that she would fall asleep, she would have to fall asleep on one of their chests, enabling her to hear their heartbeats. It was her lullaby. The steady beat of a person's heart always comforted her. They had found out when they were on their –frequent- missions together. She had been burning with a fever because of the weather on their way home. She wouldn't stop stirring and hallucinations were the least of her problems.

She was hallucinating so much that she was unintentionally hurting her teammates when they were trying to calm her. They tried talking to her, soothing her with gentle words but nothing worked. That is, until Neji, with little regard to her thrashing, pinned her against himself, effectively stopping her arms from flailing about. And, as soon as her ear was pressed to his chest and as soon as she heard the beating heart of the Hyuuga, like magic, she stopped moving. She finally relaxed in his arms, her hands coming up to rest against Neji's chest, pressing her ear into his clothes and moving to where the sound was at its loudest.

The two just watched as she searched for his heart and finally calmed down. They were all stuck to the spot, Shikamaru holding her legs, shocked at what just happened, Neji began understanding but still couldn't quite grasp the concept and the girl was sticking herself to the pleasant rhythm his heart made.

Back to the present time, Sakura had slept soundly, probably the last she'd ever have for a long time. I mean, she couldn't just randomly ask, 'Hey, can I hear your heartbeat? It calms me down'. So she relished in this fleeting moment.

Tsunade sighed as the piece of metal was laid gently on her desk.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"I see… what should I tell the others?"

"That I lost something of importance and must find it, no matter what the cost."

"And _them_?"

"Tell them the same thing… but… don't tell them I said goodbye."

"Alright. I'll see you off."

Sakura didn't nod, just turned and left.

That night, when all the clocks turned 12:01, a lone figure swished through the streets before stopping at the gate where a busty blond was yawning, fixing her with an amused stare.

"If I didn't know you better, I probably wouldn't be here. But I do, and when you said you'd be leaving tomorrow, I just couldn't help but take your words literally, meaning that you would sneak out of the village the minute that it was technically and logically, tomorrow." Tsunade chuckled.

"You know me too well."

Tsunade just smirked and hugged the petite girl.

"Just promise me, Sakura… that you'll come back. Promise me."

"I promise."

With those last words, Konoha's Cherry Blossom vanished into thin air.

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**Well, since you guys got down here, I thank you for reading and I already posted the next two chapters!  
So, how was it? Please, please, please review! Especially if you already read Cruel Angel! I changed my writing style a bit so please tell me if its better!  
~MoonlightShadowMaiden~ **


	2. Suna

**Hey, so this is the first real chapter! Yay! So, since I've practically said everything in the Prologue chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it!  
I wanted to throw in a chap with Gaara... I luv him. Well, anyways, it's a little long, I never knew I could write that much about Suna...**

**Enjoy reading and please review~**

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**Chapter 1: Suna**

She wondered what she was going to do now. She really didn't have a clue to as exactly _how _she was supposed to get stronger. She was currently jumping from tree to tree, backpack safely strapped onto her –well, duh- back. She was still absentmindedly moving when her stomach growled.

She blushed, glad that no one was near. _I didn't have breakfast… was I _really_ that impatient? _She asked herself as she landed in a clearing. It was still dark out, barely three hours since she left Konoha. She put her pack down and rummaged for her food scroll. While taking the said object out, another small object fell form the pack as well.

She picked up the small, but valuable keychain. It was an exact replica of Gaara's gourd, made of the same sand contained inside the said object. She guarded it close to her as a lucky charm. She then realized if this was here, then the others must have been as well. She rummaged blindly inside until she felt the familiar objects. She carefully took out another keychain, this time with an exact replica of Temari's fan and another also an exact replica of Kankuro's puppet, Karasu.

She shook her head and smiled to herself, "You guys are going to get lost if I don't put you somewhere." She took off her backpack and opened it wide in search for her Personal scroll. She quickly retrieved it and summoned out a plain wooden jewelry box and opened it with her chakra. It was divided into two parts, one with a lid and the other without. She placed the items inside the one without the lid. But she paused for a minute, opening the lid and looking dazedly at the number of things inside, although of the same kind of jewelry, all were of different shapes and sizes. She ran her hand along the bands, some silver, and some gold, one even made out of wood. Her eyes drooped, each one was special, it was like she had a collection of rings, but they had more emotional value than that.

She fingered a very small one; it was plastic, pink with kindergarten flowers on it given to her by Ino on her first day of school. She went along the row, the first ring given to her by her foster mother; it was plain silver with her name engraved on it. She skipped her childhood rings, though most were from Ino, and went to the more recent ones. A silver one with opals dotting nicely around it, from Neji; a regular gold band with nothing special from Shikamaru, which he had given her when she –for the first and last time- beaten him at Shogi. Well, she could go for hours like that, she had at least one ring from her closest friends: TenTen, Hinata, Tsunade, Shizune, even Yamato had given her one on her birthday… and even Team 7.

She sighed non-comically and looked back at the keychains, different. Yeah, they were different. And she liked it that way. With a nod, she picked up an energy bar, repacked everything and made her way to her destination, Sunagakure.

After traveling for almost two days, she finally got to Suna's gates, but not without some minor troubles. She got engaged in battle with some Suna bandits on her way, appearing from the sand and such. They weren't really experienced ninja, so it was a fairly easy job to get rid of them, but unfortunately, not without some wounds that her low chakra couldn't fully heal.

The Suna-nin standing guard tensed up as he saw her coming, his partner doing the same, "Who goes there?" It was near ten at night so it was normal for them to not see anything beyond the artificial source of light that sat on a table backed up to the gate.

She got closer, her exhaustion really kicking in now. She put her hands up as a sign that she meant no harm and let the small light touch her face. The guards paused for a minute but recognized her after a while.

"Haruno-san!" one of them exclaimed as the girl smiled sheepishly.

"Hello, Hatori-san," she smiled nervously. The familiar guard just looked at her disbelievingly before motioning to the guards to let her through. She walked through the passageway and vaguely heard the _poof_ of Hatori, probably going to announce her arrival to the Kazekage. And, not more than two minutes or so later after entering the village, the Kazekage himself had landed gracefully in front of her, his sand going back into the abnormally large gourd on his back.

"Haruno-san," his tone was that of greeting but also of reprimand as if to ask, 'What the hell are you doing here so late at night?'  
"Kazekage-sama," she bowed in respect and she swore that she heard a low growl coming from him.  
"I thought we were past formalities," he said, emotionless as usual.  
"I thought so, too," was her smart-ass comeback, referring to the 'Haruno-san' he had greeted her with.  
She could see a smirk come up on his face, "Fair enough," he decided, and after a thought, added, "Sakura."  
She smiled, "Nice night, isn't it Gaara?" she added her own.

Although the thought was nice, it reminded Gaara of the question he asked that never got an answer. He was about to ask her when he saw her eyes droop slightly, trying to keep open, and her slightly hunched over form as well as the cuts, bruises and the wound on her leg he didn't catch in the darkness. She was on the brink of exhaustion. With a mental sigh, he took her shoulders and led her through the village, heading towards the hospital.

She had, of course, rejected the idea, having come here enough to know the way to the hospital. "I don't need to go to the hospital, I'm fine Gaara." She assured him, but the older nin shook his head.

"You are hurt and your chakra is low, how can you heal yourself in that state?" he asked her, pushing her with no effort through the hospital doors. Immediately, the young woman was swarmed with nurses. Mostly the ones who were under her command when she was treating Kankuro. The Suna siblings had been ever so grateful of her.

Back then, when she still had a mild fear of the Suna siblings, but her fear shook off when her work was necessary. She would not let her personal feelings hinder in her professional life. So, like all medics, she healed Kankuro, using her full potential. After saving his life, she saw a whole new side of the three.

Temari, when she saw her brother sitting up and alive and after the doctors told her she was the one responsible, the older girl came over and hugged her. That was the first time Sakura acknowledged the Suna girl and saw that they were just humans, they had feelings too and she was happy to return the hug as the worried sister whispered a very relieved, "Thank you," into her ear. Kankuro had eternally been grateful to her presence there and Gaara had also thanked her, also adding that if she needed anything, Suna would be by her side.

Back to her current dilemma, she sighed as the nurses fretted, telling all males to get out as they had finished healing her leg but there were still cuts on her torso so they had to take her top off. She thanked kami when Gaara went out, having chaperoned her the whole time but her hopes were brought down when she gave her a look that clearly said, 'I'll be back later, you're not getting out of this so easily'. She groaned out loud and the nurses panicked, thinking she was in pain. She just ignored their fussing and looked out at the starry sky from the open blinds.

They finished after half an hour when there was a knock at the door before the rude person just waltzed in.

"Hey! You should've told me you were coming! I came here as fast as I could when Gaara said that you were here!" the boisterous girl rambled as she gave the, should I mention half naked, Konoha-nin a hug.

"T-Temari… I… it wasn't planned," the girl explained lamely.

Temari backed up and looked at her almost sister, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Seeing the sorrowful look on the girl's face, she swore vengeance on anything or anyone who did this. "Come on, why don't you change, I brought some clothes and we'll go to my place for some dinner."

"You haven't eaten, yet?" Sakura asked, surprised.  
"Kankuro and I just came back from a mission, and Gaara can't cook for his life." Temari joked. At least that put a smile on the younger girl's face.

They had arrived at the Sabaku house –more like mansion- and immediately went towards the dining room, on her way, Temari ordered one of the only three maids in the mansion to prepare the finest guest room.

Sakura, shocked just rambled out, "I'm going to be staying for long, so a simple room would be just fine."

"And where might you be headed to?" the deep voice of Gaara shook her from her thoughts.

"A-ah…" she herself didn't know.

Temari glared at her brother jokingly at his attempt to take the girl away, "Let's go eat, shall we? We can talk afterwards." She advised, pushing the girl by the shoulders, much like her brother did before, towards the dining room where a table full of food was awaiting them.

After the very filling dinner, the four nins settled in the living room. Gaara and Sakura had seated themselves on the loveseat, Temari lounging, her whole body laid out on a couch and Kankuro on a recliner.

"So, Sakura-chan, whatcha doing all the way out here? It was pretty late. It could have been dangerous," Kankuro said worriedly.

"And reckless," Gaara added, giving her a pointed glare.

She didn't flinch from it, instead, she sighed, she couldn't beat around the bush much longer. Her eyes dropped from fatigue and from the realization all over again, "They left."

The siblings were confused at the statement and Sakura continued with the explanation of how they had left in the dead of the night. Her whole team had left to try and get Sasuke back, without her. She told them, holding back a sob how they left without even a simple goodbye.

Then she cracked. Her tears fell freely as she tried to choke back her oncoming sobs. In a second, an arm was around her shoulder and it pulled her towards a warm chest. Gaara put his other arm around her and hugged her tightly. His usually calm eyes burned with anger.

The only coherent thoughts in his head were, _They hurt her. They will pay._

Temari was clenching her fists, glaring at nothing in particular as her brother tried to calm her. _Those bastards! They've gone too far, this time! _She thought. Kankuro had the same thoughts, only with a little more colorful language.

Soon enough, Sakura had fallen asleep in his arms. He gently picked her up and carried her over to her designated room. Temari and Kankuro had let them go, knowing that she was in safe hands.

The Kazekage had tucked her in with a tenderness that was unheard of, especially from him. He picked up a chair and settled himself next to her bed, watching over the pink-haired kunoichi.

_Haven't they hurt you enough? _He asked to no one in particular. His hand went to her cheek.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled softly, leaning into his touch. "You must think I'm weak, as well…"

Although her voice was barely audible, his trained ears caught each word clearly, narrowing his eyes at the 'as well' that she ended her sentence with. He was beginning to understand now. _That_… that so-called _team _of hers had left her behind because they thought she wasn't capable enough. How _despicable_.

"You have no reason to apologize, Sakura," he told her sincerely. She really didn't. Why was she apologizing for something that wasn't even her fault? He knew the power of this girl and yet, her teammates must have let it spontaneously _slip from their _**non-working **_brains_.

The girl looked apologetic anyways as her eyes drifted to a close once more as sleep consumed her. Gaara trailed his hand along her side until he reached her hand. He held it. It was so warm. It was comfortable, calming.

He remembered vaguely the first time he actually had physical contact with someone without the said person turning to dust the next moment. And, no guess there, it was with this same girl. When he was brought back from after being kidnapped by the Akatsuki, he woke up in a hospital room.

_Flashback_

_His ears were buzzing and his head was slightly spinning. He could hear murmurs from the left side of the room, a woman, talking to another person. He heard the footsteps of a man leave and the softer, lighter ones of the female approach his bed. _

"_Kazekage-sama?" the melodic voice asked. He recognized that voice from somewhere._

_His eyes refocused, the world stopped being a blur and he saw pink. He blinked and craned his head to get a look of the nurse. _

_Haruno Sakura._

_The name immediately came into his mind as Naruto never stopped talking about her when he was visiting or vice versa. _

_She smiled brightly at him, "I'm glad you're okay. Everyone has been so worried!" she exclaimed as she moved back, giving him some space as he sat up._

_He looked around him then back at the kunoichi, "What happened?"_

_At the question, the kunoichi frowned and retold him all that had happened. The two statements that were voiced out by the man were different, one, Sakura expected, although, the second one caught her off-guard._

"_Shukaku… is gone?" he asked, almost disbelievingly. He held his hand out, but frowned when sand came instinctively around his arm. _

"_Controlling sand… has always been from Kazakage-sama, Shukaku just made the control easier." Sakura explained._

"_You're strong," was the next, incredibly shocking sentence from the Kazekage's mouth._

_Sakura took a step back, "Excuse me?"_

"_You're strong," he repeated, looking her in the eyes._

_She laughed nervously under his hard stare and stuttered out, "N-no, not at all. It was… Chiyo-baa-sama who did most of the work." _

"_I see…" he knew she was being modest… very modest. Even in his unconscious state, he could still hear what was going on in the outside world. He had heard the staff talking about him and his fight, the Konoha-nins who came for back-up, Kankuro getting hurt and a Konoha medic coming to his rescue and the same amazing pink-haired kunoichi defeated an Akatsuki member._

_He didn't dwell on it long and went back to his first thoughts while looking at his hand. He still couldn't believe it. Was he really… free?_

_Sakura looked at the man. He looked very lost but that was to be normal. It was like a part of you was missing. It would take some time before he would get used to it._

"_Kazekage-sama-_

"_Gaara."_

_She blinked._

"_Call me Gaara. You have saved my brother's life as well as mine. I think we may drop the formalities." _

_She smiled at him, "Hai, do you need anything, Gaara?" his name rolled off her tongue like water. _She_ was even surprised it didn't come out as a stutter. There was no hesitation at all in her voice. That made Gaara look up. _

_She was interesting._

"_No, thank you. You have been a great help." He once again looked at his hands which were currently on his lap. _

_She opened her mouth to say something but held her tongue. She sat on the chair next to his bed, "I… kind of know how you feel." _

_Gaara looked at her disbelievingly, she just shook her head, "I mean, losing a part of yourself. Since I was little… I always had this stronger voice inside me. She always told me to go forward, to ignore the bullies in my childhood days. She even helped me out in my chunnin exams. Then… one day… I didn't hear her anymore. That… annoying voice just stopped. This was when Naruto went to train with Jiraya-sama. Kakashi had gone off as well, Sasuke already being gone, I was all by myself. I didn't even have that little voice pestering me. It was like… a part of me was missing when I couldn't hear her anymore. Even now, I talk to myself, trying to sound like her." She rambled on but quickly realized what she was doing and nervously coughed._

"_Just to say that… you have people who care for you. And you have a village to care _for_. Shukaku may have given you power… but it was your will that led you to become who you are now." She explained to him, feeling a little foolish when she was met with nothing but silence. She gasped when she felt the air swoosh around her and she found herself leaning against Gaara's chest, his mouth next to her ear._

"_Thank you."_

_End flashback_

The more he started to know her, the more he found that she was broken. She was broken from the start. Even when her teammates were there beside her, she always spoke of them like they were far away. Far away from her reach. He also had realized how much they were underestimating her.

He saw the girl beat some of the finest chunnin in his village with her inhuman punches and jutsus she made and perfected by herself when no one had the motivation to train her. Even Baki had taken an interest in her fighting abilities and even mentioned that she could be a fine jounin in the future, he even offered training with her when the rare times when she came for political business. She had been grateful to him for sharing his intelligence with her.

Sakura unconsciously tightened her hold on his hand. He gazed longingly at her.

_Why can't you let others heal you? Why do you always put everyone else before yourself?_

He mentally scolded the peaceful girl.

_Why?_

Sakura had stayed there for a total of four days before she told them that she should be leaving. Temari, Kankuro, Gaara and Baki accompanied her to the gates.

Temari hugged her with all her might, "Be careful 'kay?"

Kankuro had grinned at her with a thumbs up, "Come back in one piece!" His siblings glared at him for that.

Gaara approached her; he didn't really know what to say. When she had informed them that she wouldn't be coming back for at least a year, they didn't quite take it well. They asked her numerous questions about where she was going, what were her plans and such.

He contented himself with a kiss to her forehead; it told the pink-haired girl everything. _Be careful, have a safe trip, if you need anything, don't hesitate to contact us and Suna will always welcome you with open arms._

She smiled at him, "I will." He was still quite close to her and the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as he pushed something into her hands. She looked down, a small wooden box, barely the size of her palm. She opened it up and inside, were three rings.

"I heard you were collecting them," he murmured and stepped back. She looked at the rings; one was beautifully crafted, twisting around with emeralds embedded into the spaces between each twist, from Temari, of course. Another was just plain bronze; she furrowed her eyebrows when she felt inscriptions on the inside.

_Protecting you from afar_

Was engraved in it and she smiled at him, giving him a silent thank you. And the last one was metal, she felt… special… yeah… special… when Kankuro said it was metal from Karasu's body. Baki just nodded his head, a subtle way of saying 'goodbye and good luck'.

She gave each of them –yes, even Baki- a final hug before going through the pathway of the gates and watched as they slowly closed.

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**First real chapter done! Hope you liked it~**


	3. Road

**Here's the very short chapter 2, just a little filler.**

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**Chapter 2: Road**

'_Where am I supposed to start?' _I asked myself while looking around. I've been traveling up north for a week now, stopping in the small villages when needed.

Somehow, I don't know why, but I found myself… in Yukigakure.

I sighed as I pulled my cloak closer to my body and looked up at the white-covered sky. I looked around, not many were out, after all, the wind was brewing up and it looked like a snow-storm was coming soon. _'I'd better find somewhere to stay until the storm's over.'_

As if someone heard her, she smelled sweet mint tea and freshly baked cake. She looked around for the source and found a little tea shop in between two big apartment buildings.

_Hanako Tea Shop_

It said in floral letters, which was very welcoming and a change from the regular huge snowflake as the logo of most things there. She trudged her way tiredly through the thick snow and had to struggle a bit before she finally could open the door and a little bell chimed.

"Welcome!" A cheery voice chirped from her left. The person was a woman in her early twenty's, she guessed. Her hair was brown with streaks of lighter brown as were her eyes.

I smiled as well and she led me to a small table for one in the far corner, away from the cold and near the heater. I smiled gratefully and ordered some of the mint tea and some sweet dango that she remembered Anko eating every time she saw her.

Her order came quickly and she looked around. There wasn't a single soul in the café. When the young girl came back again, Sakura asked why there weren't that many people in the café.

The waitress looked surprised for a minute before smiling, "Today is a very special day here in Yukigakure. We celebrate what we call Spirit's Day. It's a day where we honor the said Spirits who are said to be protecting this village, as small as it may be. It's also kind of like a day to be with your family and loved ones. Most people right now are probably in their homes around a nice fireplace laughing and storytelling about the old Legends."

Sakura nodded in understanding and sipped her tea, enjoying the warm spicy feeling mint gave to her. She vaguely wondered about the legends. She looked out into the brewing snow. The figures of animals hazily were outlined by the snow and she had to rub her eyes and blink a few times but nothing was there.

The bell chimed.

"Oh, dear, looks like we'll be having another snow storm soon," a lady in her forties muttered under her breath as she came through, brushing off the snow from her lavender wool shawl. Sakura's eyes visibly widened and she almost spilled her tea.

Right before her, a woman, with light blue hair and warm hazel eyes that seemed familiar to her. She was wearing a big thick brown winter coat that most of her legs were hidden apart from the long boots she wore.

"Mawata…" the name slipped through her lips in an inaudible whisper.

"Mother! What are you doing here? I thought that I told you to stay at home, in your state!" the waitress, which Sakura guessed to be the youngest daughter that was going to wed soon, exclaimed at her mother.

Mawata looked up to her daughter, "And leave you all alone here while your fiancé is out? I think not, young lady! Now come on, Yuka, help your mother!"

Yuka quickly went over to her mother's side and helped her get rid of the giant coat she was wearing. The young girl sighed and made her way, to what Sakura thought was a closet. Mawata looked around until their eyes met. Sakura quickly looked back to her empty plate of dangos. She heard footsteps slowly approaching until they stopped right in front of her.

"Hello, there, hun. Aren't you a little young to be out by yourself? What's your name?" she asked with a warm smile, so much like Tsunade's.

"Um… I'm… Haruno Sakura." Sakura stuttered.

"Tatsuzaki Mawata, nice to meet you. No need to get so nervous! You don't have to tell me if you want! It's just surprising finding a young girl like you to be independent already! It makes me proud actually." She grinned at the pink-haired and lied back into the chair she sat herself on, opposite of Sakura.

Sakura smiled lightly and resumed to look out the glass window again. There it was again… the animal outlines!

"There is a very famous legend here," Mawata started as she was also looking out.

"This village is protected by ancient spirits of the Zodiac. I believe you are familiar with the 12 Zodiac animals, am I correct? Well… here, they are considered as Guardians.

A long time ago, a priestess… a miko, was venturing out here. She was to take a very important chest to the Daimyo of this land back then. However, the blistering winds and the ruthless snowstorms were more frequent back then than it is now. The poor priestess got lost and had little chance of survival. With only a little food left and her clothes worn out from the previous journeys, she couldn't do anything but wait until death took her.

As she was resting, a pack of wolves walked by, there were six of them: the parents and the four cubs. They were dying of hunger. The miko, watched on with regretful eyes as one of the cubs fell down. Her, such a kind heart she had. She walked over to them and gave them the rest of her food, as well as the only blanket she had, to cover the cubs from the cold.

The miko, not wanting to disturb any longer, went back to sitting under the tree, now with nothing, she just smiled as she watched the pack of wolves walk away. She closed her eyes, ready for death to take her. Her time was nearing its end, she just looked regretfully at the chest beside her, and she started to sing.

Kodama suru hikari no uzu  
Shiawase wo tsutaeru  
Horobi naki sekai no Akashi  
TENPUSUPATIUMU no miko

Ashita mezameru made yurasu  
mihaha no kago shiroki  
hane yo…

All the villagers know of the song and the tree, because it is said, that it is there that she stopped as life was slowly flowing out of her.

But, then, as the reaper came to get her soul, a bright light stopped him and formed a protective barrier around the maiden, stopping death in its path. Nine heavenly beings appeared in front of her and said to the maiden,

'You have shown true compassion and love to others, you do not merit death.'

Therefore, the maiden found herself in a different world, where the land was split apart in amazing wonders. There, the maiden stayed for one year, until she suddenly remembered her mission. She said that she was sorry that she could not stay. So she bade farewell to her beloved saviors and moved on to finally deliver the requested item.

There, the Daimyo asked what had kept her. And she retold the whole story to the daimyo and his court. They, of course, did not believe her, called her a liar and imprisoned her, accusing her of giving information away to the enemy that had waged war a few months after she disappeared. It was, by fate, that the Daimyo's son had become infatuated with the miko and pleaded for her freedom.

The Daimyo had none of it and banished his own son. Well… this story ends a bit uncommonly. You would think that the son would come back and get revenge against the father in a few years, free the miko and marry her? No… that was far from what happened, although the end is almost right.

The miko died, of sickness, a few years later from being imprisoned with no light and horrible living conditions. So did the son, coincidentally, around the same time. The Zodiac guardians reunited their spirits at the tree where the miko once rested, and they became angels, some say, leaving pure as white feathers on the ground, then reunited their spirits. And, we could only guess that they lived happily ever after in the afterlife. They say that you could still hear the miko's lullaby. We villagers call it… "Tsubasa no Komoriuta"… Lullaby of the Wings."

Sakura smiled, "I'm glad that it didn't end the way I thought it would end."

Mawata looked at her with confusion.

"Why is that? I thought you're the kind of girl to like happy, sappy, endings. Not to offend you or anything." The woman added quickly.

Sakura shook her head, "No offense taken. I was like that. I mean… I've always believed in fairy tales and their 'Happily Ever After'. Not anymore."

"Why? What happened? I had a feeling you used to be a cheerful girl." Mawata leaned into her elbows.

Sakura looked sorrowfully at her tea.

"Reality happened."

Mawata nodded in understanding.

"I see…"

Sakura smiled bitterly and suddenly looked up as she heard something.

_Horobi naki sekai no Akashi  
TENPUSUPATIUMU no miko_

It was very faint but she could hear the light rhythm the wind made that became words to her ears. She was drawn to it.

She abruptly stood up, surprising Mawata. Her eyes were unfocused but still open as her locket floated up in the air. It played music. Mawata's eyes widened as she recognized the tune as being the one… that she heard once in her childhood when she was near the Miko's shrine but she still remembers it to this day. She called it "Tenohira no melody".

Mawata just watched as Sakura made her way over to the door and pushed it open. Yuka came into the room and gasped.

"W-Where are you going? There's a snowstorm out there!" She took a step to try and stop Sakura but an arm blocked her way. She looked at her mother unbelievably, "we're not going to let her go into that, are we? She's going to die!"

Mawata smiled softly, "No… she's not. The guardians are protecting her. Good luck… Sakura."

Fuka watched her mother with uncertain eyes and back out to the storm.

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**Well, there's not much to like... but hope you enjoyed it anyways!**


	4. Meeting

**This is chapter 3!**

**Please enjoy and review~**

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**Chapter 3: Meeting**

She couldn't see anything. The wind was pushing her away, but somehow, she had the force to continue to struggle against it. Her cloak flying in the wind and sometimes whipping her face once the airstream changed courses.

The locket… it still hasn't stopped chiming that tune yet. It was all that was left after the foster parents abandoned her, it was attached to a letter saying that it was the only thing she had with her when they found her. It looked unusual for a locket, although, up till now, she hasn't been able to open it yet. It was very big, the size of her whole palm, maybe a size or two bigger (Rosette Christopher's watch from Chrono Crusade).

It continued to make that music box kind of sound. The blizzard wasn't impeding at all. The girl thought that this might be the end of her. What kind of impulse led her to walk through a blizzard? Seriously. She squinted but failed to see anything. That is… until she didn't hear anything anymore.

The music had stopped. As if the storm was at its control, a protective barrier formed around her. The snow encircled her in a cylinder, the flakes swirling around as if in a mixer around her. She tentatively reached her hand out and put her hand through and in a wave of energy, she found herself... standing… on a stone pavement.

She looked around. The stone pavement she was on was not a pavement at all. It was just a structure. It was a large circle made of stone, floating a few feet off the grassy ground for it was slightly levitating up and down. In the middle was an archway that stood four meters tall, made of marble that glistened in the sun. But that was not where her gaze was, no, her gaze was to the shining circle of light a yard above the said arch that moved around, well, in a circle. It was a light blue hue and there seemed to be inscription on it.

Sakura squinted her eyes at the glowing energy.

"Tem…pus… spa…tium."

She blinked and remembered the song, "tenpususpatiumu no miko…" she said slowly. She was trying to read more… but as of now… there were other priorities to think about, like, say, the sharp spearhead held at her throat.

She gasped and stumbled back but was poked by another spear. She looked around her. People, in roman styled clothes, men, it seemed like it. They had porcelain masks on their faces, which reminded her of the Anbu back home.

"_Nek tu kas siha?"_

She blinked at the foreign language.

"I-I'm sorry… But I cannot understand you," she stuttered out in almost a whisper. The men looked at each other.

"_Tik no habit taka."_

"_Lit han no suri kamus."_

With a nod of their heads, they advanced towards her, she moved back as quickly as possible.

"N-No… l-leave me alone… leave me…. alone!" she shouted, taking out a kunai.

"_Ikarat ita jikuha!"_

"_Likat nabi tek!"_

They seemed surprised and instead of doing what they were about to do to her, they motioned their heads as to say to follow them. She did without complaint, she was sorely outnumbered and she knew better than to judge a book by its cover, in this case, by the sharp objects they held at her throat.

They walked north towards a space where there were trees. But as they got closer, Sakura couldn't help but gape, they were enormous! The trees had to stand at least a hundred yards in the air. And as they got closer, she could make out little watch cabins hidden in between the large leaves. She looked up and saw one of the guards motion up.

'_Oh, no… don't tell me we'll have to climb that!' _she thought exasperatedly as she was already very tired.

Before she could wallow in her panic, she was picked up and thrown over one of their shoulders like a sack of potatoes and before she knew it, they were jumping from the small branches of the tree. It seemed to take hours to get there, well, more precisely, forty-five minutes.

When they, finally, got to the top, Sakura was simply amazed. A whole village was up here: houses of stone, as well as beautifully decorated, here and there, hidden protectively behind the gigantic leaves; it was a mystery at how a whole mini village could be here; women and children were bustling about, some young women in a group wearing breast armors and were holding arrows, swords and such. Others were laughing away while the slightly older ones, in their late twenties, were coming with baskets full of exotic fruits and vegetables that she had never seen in her life, the children were playing amongst each other running on the wooden floorboard. Before her though, was a vast, regal white house with massive double doors with a yellow symbol on it.

She was so amazed that she had stopped moving until they pushed her towards the said house. Four women were guarding the doors and asked them what them what she was doing here, at least, that's what Sakura thought, because they motioned to her. The four women all clad in chest armor and a white skirt holding beautifully designed spears. The handles were metal and it was painted in various colors along with some very colorful bird feathers hanging off the end.

They opened the double doors and let them inside. Only one of the men followed her inside, he took off his mask. Sakura couldn't help but blush a little, he was very cute. He had green unruly hair and dark green eyes. He glanced at her for a moment but looked away quickly.

Sakura forcing her eyes to turn away was found with the sight of many women in the one room, they were all holding baskets or making something from the cloth that was at their feet but they froze at the sight of her. They were all either wearing big gowns, sundresses or something of equal elegance. The room was big and bright, the walls were pearl white with gold rims. Many beautifully crafted tables were around, at least four women at each one. She vaguely saw four men at each of the corners of the room. The only other thing inside the room was a lone desk with all the stationary needed and a big chair.

Their eyes followed her every movement and she shunned away, trying to make her look as little as possible. The boy next to her stopped and kneeled on one knee while bowing his head. Sakura was still looking sideways, but when she finally turned her head… she audibly gulped.

A beautiful blond man was there, sitting in the chair. His long hair was wavy and his eyes the color of a clear sky. He was very regally dressed in white and gold. (a/n: see Julious from Angelique. For the Guardians, I will be using the Guardians from the anime Angelique: Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique, both seasons.)

"_Who goes there." _

Sakura was mildly surprised when she could understand him. His voice was low and that of a leader. The boy said some things to answer the question and then turned to look at her. Soon after, the elegant man's eyes shifted to her as well.

"_Who are you?" _he asked in a demanding, but not cold voice.

"M-My name… is," she swallowed, "Haruno Sakura."

He blinked and narrowed his eyes at her. He looked around and said just one word and everyone began filing out, looking at their leader with worry, but went out nonetheless. Sakura trembled as she heard the double doors creak and close with a 'thump' sound.

"_Haruno… Sakura," _he repeated, _"Are you really?"_

Sakura's knees shook in terror but she nodded vigorously. The guardian just kept his gaze on her and she was certain that he was going to burn a hole through her head, but instead, he spoke softly.

"_Welcome, my child. What brings you here?" _she blinked and stood there shocked with mouth agape for a minute before her brain processed the question.

"I… I don't really know. One minute, I was stuck in a snowstorm, and the next, I found myself here." He nodded.

"_Only people who have the sacred energy of Sacrea can enter here so easily."_

It, once again, took a little while for Sakura to comprehend what she had just heard.

"What?"

The man looked out the small window to his left.

"_People who try to come here forcefully die in a matter of seconds. Only the ones who have been here before may find their way back. Tell me child… how did you get here?" _he asked, very curious.

"I… heard music. My… pendant started to play music." She took the pendant out and showed it to him.

The man's eyes widened a bit, _"That… do you know what that is?"_

Sakura shook her head.

"_That pendant… is a very precious heirloom to one of the families here… it belonged to your mother."_

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, "My mother?"

"_Yes… I remember that pendant. That proves that you are, indeed… Neviril's daughter or should I say, Momoko's daughter in your language."_

"You know… my mother?"

"_And your father, Anubituf or in your language, Daisuke, as well. They were pupils of mine at one time. Your mother was one of the greatest warriors here."_

"Where are they?"

He sighed sorrowfully, _"I am afraid that I do not know. You see, there was a war here, about nine years ago; it took away the lives of many. Your parents… they disappeared during the fight. We never found their bodies, however. Your mother's sister, Lilium, or you might know her as Yuri and her husband took you in. Actually, they were just here, a few months ago. They were worried about your safety because they were being chased. We haven't heard anything from them since."_

Sakura bit her lip as she tried to keep the tears in. So they didn't abandon her. They were being chased. But… by what?

"Chased by what?" Sakura asked, almost afraid of knowing.

He once again sighed, mournfully this time, and began to stand up. Now, his stood at his full height and he looked even more intimidating. He walked over to the door, holding one hand up; he pushed the double doors easily with some unknown force.

"_Come… I will show you something."_

Sakura quickly tried to catch up. The villagers stopped what they were doing at the sight of the man. Most of them bowed down and others went up to him speaking franticly. He just brushed them away but reassured them with a smile. One of the warrior women, about twenty years of age went up to him.

"Elder, please, you are in no state to be walking around." The girl said in a strong voice. The pink-haired girl was very taken aback because the girl just spoke her language. The girl had long brown hair to her hips and dark purple eyes.

"_I'm fine, Alti, just taking a little stroll. Come, Sakura."_

Sakura went up to catch up to him, Alti stared at her. Sakura looked away. The Elder stopped at the edge of where the wooden floorboards ended. He kneeled down.

"_Climb on and hold on tight."_

Sakura blinked in surprise, I mean, it's not everyday that such a regal man would ask you to climb onto his back but nevertheless, Sakura did as she was told and almost screamed as they just jumped off into nothingness. It seemed like they were never going to stop falling until the pressure on her back decreased then stopped altogether. She looked all around her; they were far away from the trees now.

She shakily got down and wobbled a bit before regaining her balance. Then… her breath was taken away. To her north, a beautiful spring valley with blooming flowers and a light breeze was seen. To the west, a scorching hot desert with shining golden sand and an oasis not far ahead; to the south, a forest with trees of all colors, red, orange and brown all mixed up, it was a beautiful sight. And finally, to the east, a white snowy landscape as far as the eye could see.

Then she remembered… _'The maiden found herself in a different world, where the land was split apart in amazing wonders.'_

It was the legend.

The elder took a breath and exhaled onto the ground. The ground beneath them started shaking and soon enough, a part of the earth ripped and floated up into the air, them on it. They had mounted up very high, so high that Sakura could see the four seasons like pieces of a cake.

"_You see over there…" _He motioned to a part, far away from the paradise she was in; there was a sinister, shady part of the land, _"The Void Clan lives there. They were once part of our community… but they had dangerous ideas for the future. Too dangerous… so they were banished. They never really forgave any of us for it. They became engulfed in hatred and revenge, so much, that in the end, they became fearsome demons. They are the ones who we have been fighting against for over half a century."_

Sakura cringed when she could distinctly hear a blood-curdling roar from it.

"_They were the ones trying to chase your foster parents. If they brought you with them, you would have been in danger as well. So they preferred leaving you." _The wise being explained.

A few tears escaped Sakura's eyes and she rubbed her eyes, falling down into a kneeling position where she sobbed.

"I'm… -hic-… horrible! I thought… -hic-… they had abandoned me. Like everyone else." The poor girl hiccupped.

"_There are many things that we regret, my child. But being alone does tend to make us think things which are not really pleasant for the heart to take. But… I have to ask of you. Why did you come? It isn't just the powers of that pendant which brought you here… you're looking for something more."_

Sakura wiped her eyes, "For a while now… I've been feeling lost. You see… my team… my friends… the ones that I thought as family… abandoned me. They left without even a goodbye. I think that my identity followed them as well, for I don't know myself anymore. I didn't know who my parents were, until recently, but… I still don't feel… I'm even more confused."

"_Ah… I see… you needed guidance, but you did not know where to go. Your heart helped you. I can hear your wishes, Sakura. You want to get stronger… because you think that is why your team left you behind."_

"Yes… they have always thought that I was weak, useless… a burden. It wasn't until they were gone that I really realized that aspect of my life. I want to get stronger. That is what I really want."

"_Then I may be able to help you. But I warn you now… it isn't going to be easy. And you will have to stay here for an undetermined number of years, depending on your skill and progression."_

'_An undetermined number of years…' _she repeated in her head. _'I'll show them.' _

"I'll do anything." She said with confidence.

He smiled, _"Good… but I have one more question to ask you. How strong do you want to be?"_

Sakura thought about that, "I want to be someone who can fight her own battles. I want to be someone, who can stand up no matter what the circumstances."

The Elder looked like he was contemplating something.

"_I might have an idea… but it will be, and I'm not exaggerating, at least ten times harder, if you choose this path. Here, we are divided into nine 'Clans', as they say in your world. As such, there are nine Guardians, protectors of the people. Each of these clans excels in an element, they are: Light, Darkness, Greenery, Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Steel and Dream. I am the Guardian of Light, Julious. My proposition to you is that you seek out the aid of the Guardians. They will choose either to help you or not. If they do, you will become their apprentice and will learn everything there is to know about it and acquire Sacrea, the energy which enables us to use the elements at our guise." _

Sakura reflected on that idea.

'**Come on girl! Take the chance! What have you got to lose?'  
**_'Inner? You're back?'  
_**'Well duh! Aw… ya missed me?'  
**_'N-no… alright, maybe a little.'  
_**'I missed you, too… anyways, I asked you a question!'  
**_'Well… I would lose years of my life. That's what.'  
_**'-sigh- you are hopeless. You **_**do**_** want to show them what you're made of right?'  
**_'Well…'  
_**'Right?'  
**_'Yes.'  
_**'So, once again, what have you got to lose?'**

"I will accept."

The blond man nodded, _"Your mother chose the same path. We may start now, if you will."_

"Right now?" Sakura shouted.

"_Yes… there is much to be done and so little time. Speaking of time, the notion of time is different here; we live, or more precisely, this place, is in another dimension. Five years here, in the human world, would only be one year, if my memory serves me right… or was that for Mercury? Or Venus? Oh, well, better ask someone else to be certain. I'll drop you off."_

So once again, she climbed on his back and just in a few seconds, they arrived at another tree and he bade her goodbye.

The young girl looked around. It looked much the same as the Light Clan's, except the houses were of a slightly different structure. The Light's walls were made of stone in a square with wooden cone-shaped roofs. The Water's walls were made of naturally colorful material.

The people, even though Julious was not their guardian, still bowed deeply. The villager's clothes were also different. The Light Clan's were kind of medieval with armors and such but the Water's was more… roman? White tunics of all various forms and designs with knee high sandals.

She felt a sense of déjà vu because everyone was, once again, looking at her. She just stood there, sheepishly, not knowing what to do. That is until a boy about two years older than her arrived.

"Hey, you're the weird girl that was at the gate. What are you doing here? I thought you belonged to the Light Clan, this is the Water Clan's village." He had brown hair and light green eyes.

"Um… yes… I know. I'm here to see, the Guardian?"

The boy blinked, "Why didn't you say so before? Come on, it's this way."

The boy led her through the maze of houses until they came to a similar house as Julious except the walls were light blue-green and the symbol was different. The boy approached the guards, who were, once again, women and talked to them in their language. The women seemed reluctant but opened the double doors all the same.

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**Hope y'all liked it!**


	5. Acceptance

**Hello, hello, hello! Well, this is the fourth chappie! Thank you thank you thank you for my reviewers: domdom456789, angel897 and himeko63, oh, and Spawn of Satan Child of God! I appreciate it a lot... since, it seems like this one is not as good as Cruel Angel TToTT. Anyways, since some of you guys wanted a _Team 7 beat-up_ scene, it's going to be in one of the future chappie, cause, I really haven't thought of adding the _beating-up Team 7_ scene so I have to improvise that before moving on!**

**Thank you again for my reviewers~ And I hope you like this chapter! ^^! Cause, seriously, all these hot guys... I wish they could be all mine... **

**Oh, and this time, I won't forget the diclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Angelique, not to mention all the hot guys that come with it... ToT... lol. **

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**Chapter 4: Acceptance **

She entered and looked around. It was spacious, the walls a transparent blue with a painting of the sea on one wall. She approached the back of the room as everyone filed out; the women were wearing gorgeous tunics like she saw outside as well. She heard a beautiful tune.

"_Hum, hum, hum…"_

She averted her eyes to a lone chair at the back.

"_What, pray tell, are you doing here, my lady?" _a smooth voice called out from behind the chair. Sakura had to squint because of the lack of light in the room.

She blinked a few times. Her mouth dropped. A gorgeous man was standing in front of her. His long light blue hair was loose and reached his back, his grey eyes looking at her with mild amusement and curiosity. He was wearing one of the tunics. It was white with gold in an intricate design here and there, it covered most of him, a large part was hanging over one arm in layers, and his feet couldn't be seen. He was holding a golden lyre which was making the music before.

"Um… I have come…" the words flew out of her head and she just stood there, looking retarded.

The man blinked and approached her, that's when she noticed the thin circle of Water floating absently around his shoulders. _"Might you be here… to seek my aid?"_

She just nodded in response and beads of sweat escaped her as he looked at her up and down, seemingly to size her up. _"Hmm… pink hair… green eyes… might you be… related to Neviril, by any chance?"_

At her mother's name she nodded once more, "I'm her daughter."

The man?... uh, his eyes widened a bit before a grin appeared on his face and he smiled warmly at her, _"I thought so! You look just like your mother! If that's so… then you must be here to gain my approval."_

She nodded, "I would be honored to be your student." She bowed as low as possible.

He gave her a soft smile;_ "No… it is I, Lumiale, Guardian of Water, who is honored to teach the daughter of the Sybilla Aurea…" _he bowed gallantly at her with one arm across his chest. She nervously bowed again and blushed when he winked at her. _"Here… a sign of my approval."_

He snapped his fingers and a golden bracelet appeared on her right wrist made up of nine oval slightly tilted dull grey gems, it had a heart in the middle with the colors of the rainbow which seemed to move like the ocean, five gems were on one side of it and four on the other. She noticed immediately that two of the dull grey gems started to take color. One was an almost blinding yellow-gold and the other a calming blue. She examined it.

"_Each time you have the approval of a Guardian, one gem will gain color." _He explained. _"I will be looking forward to knowing you, Sa-ku-ra."_

She nodded with a stupid grin and went out to fresh air. The people looked at her and she just smiled shyly, speed walking through the village. At the end of the floorboards, a young lion was sitting up proudly with his head held up. She approached it. Julious had said something about animals being sacred here.

_Flashback_

_Julious set her down on the grass a minute and looked around him. "This is the realm of Spirits. And the Spirits usually come in the form of animals. Each Guardian has a specific one which represents their element. Mine is the lion."_

Regal, elegant, proud and strong, the perfect image of a leader…_, Sakura thought to herself._

_End Flashback_

He sensed the movement and turned to look towards her. "Julious-sama asked me to escort you the way. My name is Landinstatekeikutium.

Sakura blinked, "Excuse me?" the name was too long and complicated to even remember.

The dirty blond lion about her size sighed, "Just call me Kei, close enough. Come on, we don't have all day." He told her as she got onto his back.

Instead of going back down to the ground though, he sped through the village passing the villagers and was going up the tree trunk. After a few minutes, they got to the top and Sakura dared not look down and shut her eyes.

"Hold on tight." Kei warned and Sakura made the mistake of opening her eyes, because at that moment, the crazy lion jumped from the top of the tree tops and soared through the air. Sakura screamed. And she continued screaming, even when they had landed.

"God, woman, shut up already! We're here!" the lion shouted over her scream. Her scream died out and she looked around her. They were on firm ground and she resisted the urge to kiss it. She looked around and wanted to go back. The women… were all… large, very tall, muscled and very scary; although some were pretty.

She bypassed them all and made her way to the large building of natural brick and painted in detail. She meekly smiled at the two women guarding the door. They raised an eyebrow at her and just remembered that they didn't speak her language. She slapped her forehead and ran it down her face.

Then, she heard the doors open. She looked up. One of the women was opening the gigantic double doors. By herself. When it took four women at the Water's. Wow. She didn't have to be Shikamaru to figure out what these people excel in. But… why did they let her in?

She then noticed that the other woman who was standing guard was looking at her arm in a weird way. Ah… the bracelet. It was better than a passport.

She entered the doors and they closed behind her. She waited around this time. There was no one else inside; of course, all the women must be outside _weight lifting_. She heard a grunt from somewhere in the room and walked cautiously towards the noise. She tripped over something. She landed flat on her face then a soundless scream escaped her lips.

There was a monster in here! His face was bulky and the shadows around his face made him seem very mad. "What are you doing in here? This is private property! I am the guardian of this house!" he then let out a roar and Sakura screamed along with him and in a moment of panic, she put up her fist and gave him a big punch. The man stumbled back clutching his nose and yelling profanities.

"W-W-What in the sevens hells is going on in here?"a raspy voice bellowed and soon, the windows burst open and light came in. Sakura stopped screaming, her chest heaving hard as she looked around. The bulky man in front of her suddenly had a scared look, like a kid who got caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar, while nursing his broken nose. There was a constant tapping noise across the floor and soon an old man who was a foot shorter than Sakura appeared. The top part of his head was bald but he had white hair from the bottom half to just below his shoulders. He was looking at the ox-man with a glare and he pointed his cane at him.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop scaring these poor maidens!" with that he hit the ox man's head with his cane.

"Ow! But grand-pa! She came in here without permission! And, and, and she punched me!" he got another hit from the cane.

"You think you can take over while your brother's gone? I don't think so! That's why we didn't choose you as leader in the first place!"

Sakura just looked onto the one-way verbal fight. She finally got a good look at the pretend-to-be-leader. He was big and bulky, that's for sure.

"_What is going on in here?" _another voice came from the open gate. The three people in the room turned their attention to the new comer.

"Ah, sonny! You're finally here! How many times do I have to tell you to not leave your post?"

"_Ah, so Guardians can't even go to the bathroom anymore?"_

'_Guardian? Oh no…' _Sakura thought. If the brother was like this, she can't even imagine the other.

KAPOW! It felt like a ton of bricks hit her on the head. Yeah… she really _couldn't _imagine.

A man about Lumiale's age came out, in his early twenties. He had shaggy auburn hair and golden brown eyes. Sakura's mouth almost dropped to the floor. He looked over at her and she blushed. He wasn't bulky but at least much muscled, she could really see his chocolate tablet abs through the brown shirt he was wearing, it was rugged at the arms and gave him a rebel look.

"_I'm sorry for the trouble my little brother caused for you. He means well… sometimes."_

She just nodded goofily but couldn't help but think, _'Little brother? That seems to be a big problem to me!'_ Something she hasn't stopped doing and I don't think will stop anytime soon.

"_Well, then… what brings you here?"_

His grand-pa looked at him skeptically, "Think a little boy! She's here to gain your approval! Gosh, I'm beginning to think leaving the post to you was a bad idea. I should've stayed Guardian for at least a half a century more! But noooo… I just had to retire with two good-for-nothing grandsons."

The Guardian chose to ignore his grandfather's ramblings and turned to her. _"My approval…" _he murmured looking over his brother trying to nurse his broken nose. _"You broke my brother's nose?" _he asked, quite surprised.

"H-He scared me!" Sakura replied in an accusing tone. She waited for the: 'Why did you do that? He's my brother!' but it never came. Instead a loud laugh echoed through the bare room.

"_He scared you… -laugh-… and you… -laugh-… punched him! And… and… it hurt?" _he asked more to himself than anyone else. He looked over to his crying brother and looked at her disbelievingly. _"My brother is one of the strongest warriors in the Clan. Not just anyone can hurt him… I like you… and therefore, you have my approval. I never got your name."_

"Haruno Sakura."

"_Well, Haruno Sakura, you are welcome here anytime. My name is Victor by the way, the Earth Guardian." _He gave her a smile a million dollar smile.

Sakura exited the room a little shaken up by the events. She found Kei at exact place she left him. He saw her and got up. Once again, they soared through the air until they got to the next tree.

Like déjà vu she made her way towards the giant room. The villagers were dressed like Amazon warriors. The women wore tight half tank tops in warm colors with a lot of golden jewelry and the bottom was just a skirt that went over the front and the back and golden anklets.

The doors were opened by two of the women and she entered. As soon as she stepped foot into the room, the room fell quiet almost immediately. Unlike the previous room, the sun coming through the various holes in the roof brightly lighted this one. I wonder what they do when it rains.

She suddenly felt a presence behind her and, with the reflex of a ninja, jumped back with her hands in front of her in a defensive position.

"_Woah, there. I'm not going to hurt you. I wouldn't even hurt a fly as a matter of fact." _

Sakura let her body relax and let her arms fall at her sides as the strangest man… no woman… uh… person stepped out of the dark. An exotic persona. It had flaming red hair to its waist but friendly amber eyes. It had a red ruby circle right on its forehead and… and… what seemed like fins, like a fish, two pairs, at the place where the ears were supposed to go. It was wearing a green half-top as well and an intricate red and gold necklace. The bottoms were orange pants that ended just below the knees with a cloth tied around his waist that resembled a skirt.

The exotic being looked at her with a scrutinizing stare. _"I say… you must be related to Neviril…"_

Sakura looked up, "H-how… do you know… that?"

The being smiled knowingly, "_Your dreams have some similarities."_

Sakura blinked, "That means… you are the Guardian of Dream?"

"_Yes, I am, my name is Mel. I'm a man, by the way. Don't let appearances fool you. Reality is much more dangerous that dreams. But I will help you link those two opposite worlds."_

"You will really help me?"

"_Of course, who am I to deny such a pure soul?" _he smiled softly, his gaze penetrating her, reading her. But it didn't feel forced, it felt… warm.

She bowed and went out and looked at her third dark pink gem acquired and smiled.

(a/n: I'm getting tired of redoing the same thing about moving through the air and stuff so please excuse my laziness and we'll just be going through those meaningless phrases.)

She landed and looked around… she blinked a few times. She was imagining this… right? All the villagers were wearing very fluffy clothes; whether it be shirts or pants, skirts or even shoes, they were covered in a fluffy material. They all looked very… cute. Yes, that's the word. The _only_ word.

She came to front door guarded by bunny girls… wait… yes… bunny girls in a one-piece fluffy bathing suit styled clothes with furry boots. They even had fake rabbit ears on their heads. Sakura chose to ignore it and just entered the room.

She almost choked upon arriving when a great ball of fluff bounced its way towards her, right in her face. She quickly pushed it away, coughed, and sneezed. She looked at the ball of fluff. It was very big, she almost couldn't hold with her arms. Dust bunnies. That's what they were. In addition, they were everywhere. Jumping from place to place, bumping into each other and so on. They had no real face, just the form of bunnies, and some with no form at all.

She pushed her way through the mass, _'I'm glad I'm not asthmatic.' _She thought to herself.

She tried to push another fluff but it wouldn't budge. She tried harder but it wouldn't move still. She was willing to punch her way through when a voice stopped her.

"_Excuse you." _The ball of fluff said.

Sakura looked up to meet with a giant rabbit's face. "Oh my…" was all she could muster up before stumbling back. The rabbit turned towards her.

"_What is a human doing here?" _it asked.

Sakura nervously mumbled, "Oh, I-I'm sorry for bumping into you ! I thought you were a dust bunny! There are so many here, don't you think?"

The rabbit jut blinked. _"Wait a minute. I'm not a rabbit! What are doing here?"_

Sakura thought of saying something about looking in a mirror when a figure appeared from _behind _the beast.

'_Holy crap… are they all really going to be gorgeous beings?' _she thought to herself as she eyed the man about her age or so. He had long blond hair tied back into a low ponytail, his eyes were gray and were half-lidded, giving a tired look as he propped himself onto his elbows onto the giant rabbit's back.

"_Will I have to repeat myself?" _he asked in a cute voice before yawning.

"Umm, no, of course not! Uh… I just… well you see…"

"_You're seeking my approval, right?"_

Sakura just nodded while looking down at the floor, avoiding his cute, sleepy gaze. "Yes. I'm sorry if I interrupted your… nap."

He waved a hand dismissively, _"It's quite alright. I was just telling here about my sleeping hours. I said that I need more while he debates that I should cut my sleep. Can you believe that? What do you think about it?" _he said slowly, yawning in between sentences.

Sakura nervously scratched the back of her head, "Well… it depends really… I guess… the one who rules my village takes naps all the time and drinks a lot but still gets her work done… most of the time. I guess… it's up to how much work you have. If you have a lot, then you should cut it, then after you finish, you can sleep at your guise." She put her index finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling, thinking over her words.

"_Brilliant! You could be a great counselor." _The man smiled. _"You're hired!" _

Sakura blinked a few times, "I'm… hired?" she was going to ask but her question was answered by grey turning green.

She grinned happily and bowed. "Thank you!"

"_You are quite welcome. Come by anytime. I am the Guardian of Green, Marcel."_

She went out and she set off to the next Guardian.

The people here were dressed pretty much like she did a year ago with the Chinese styled dress she once wore but these were much better. The women and the children were all wearing it in different colors and designs. She was wondering about something though. At each village, there were only women and children. She asked Kei about it.

"Here, the men are the official guards to the Gateways, which connect this dimension to others; we have Clan members all over the Galaxy. The men go out and surround the perimeter, fighting off the Void warriors who sometime venture around the borders. The women are much more precious to the tribes. They are the ones who make the weapons, gather the food and most importantly, guard the Guardians themselves."

"The women guard the Guardians. That means… in a war…"

"They will be the ones protecting this dwelling. They are indispensable for the Spirit World."

Sakura nodded and Kei stopped, "Go in. He had already sensed your presence."

The doors opened for her and as soon as she entered, she felt a warm breeze on her face. She looked around. On the walls were katanas and samurai clothing, scrolls with Chinese calligraphy and ink paintings. There was a steady but hard breath from the back of the room.

"_Come in… I'm not getting any younger you know." _The low voice boomed almost amusedly.

Sakura stepped forwards slowly and stopped in front of bamboo shutters that covered the whole part of the room. The loud noises was coming from the other side. "Umm… hello? Guardian Steel?"

The bamboo shutters slowly rose, as if gaining tension in the room and Sakura's eyes almost bulged out of her head. Outside, as well as inside this house was all tradition-like. But… behind the bamboo shutters. She could see dozens of high-tech technologies that she had never seen before in her life. Computers beeped and three large screens showed various information which she could not decipher.

"_Come on now, I don't have all day." _He spoke to her, his back turned. He had short light blue hair and was dressed like a Duke from old times.

He finally turned to calculate her, his golden eyes gleaming behind his glasses. _"You have a strong spirit. I can tell. You are free-spirited, just like your mother. She was, not to lower any other of my alumni, but she was my favorite. I'm certain you will live up to her name. I am Ernst, Guardian of Steel and I will be looking forward to teaching you."_

With that, she suddenly found herself next to Kei, not knowing how she got there.

"Hello? Earth to Sakura, we have our heading. He-llo? Snap out of it! The Guardian of Darkness doesn't like tardiness!"

Sakura shook her head and nodded, jumping onto Kei.

Sakura involuntarily shuddered as she walked through the sinister village. Even though the villagers were laughing and talking merrily, there was a weird… karma… floating around. They were dressed in Egyptian clothes, which consisted of a white or beige robe fastened at the waist or hips with a gold belt. Various jewelry were here and there and especially head or forehead jewelry. However, all of them wore a curling steel bracelet on their upper arm, and of course, it was a snake. They actually looked very cool.

Sakura shuddered at the giant snake head carved into the steel doors. They opened and she was forcefully pushed in by a harsh gust of wind.

Darkness. She could see nothing and slightly panicked. She felt something brush her leg and shuddered before giving off a petrified little squeak.

A voice scoffed from somewhere, _"A little human girl… you have no business here. You are a weakling. A failure." _The voice spoke.

Sakura closed her eyes and took a shaky breath, "I believe… that you are… -gulp-… judging me without… knowing me… first." The final word was almost squeaked out. She could feel something surrounding her.

"_I don't need to know you… to tell that you have never lifted a finger in your life. You're all but skin and bones. Why do you… even try to get stronger? You're a hopeless case. You should be ashamed. You have… tainted… your mother's glorious name with your pitiful self. You will never become like her."_

Sakura's fists tightened, "I… I am ashamed. I'm ashamed… that I can't take care of myself. I'm ashamed and I admit that I've been a burden. It's true that I will never live up to my mother… because I'm not her. I could never be someone like her. But… I… have been given the chance… to at least try to walk the path she walked. To try to understand the hardships she went through… and if you won't help me… then it's fine. Think what you want of me. But as long as someone is willing to help me… then I'm not giving up."

She turned and walked away. The doors opened for her and then closed once she got out. She took a much needed breath from the lack of air in the room she was in. She looked around. No one was there. Complete silence. It was like a ghost town.

Mist was gathering in the area and soon, it came together to create the silhouette of a man, _"You are very interesting. It is because of fear… is it not? Most people would persevere in trying to get me to accept them, while you… you give up. That's why I don't want to take you."_

Sakura was getting mad now and she lost it, "I never said that I gave up! I just said that if you're not willing to take in this… this… weakling, then by all means, don't do it. I won't give up and cry back to my village saying that a pretentious man who thinks he's all _that_ didn't want to teach me his 'grandiose' ways!"

Sakura silently berated herself for doing that. She didn't dare look into the intimidating man's dark eyes. She could only see his midnight black hair blowing in the slight breeze and his full body dark blue cloak billowing slightly as well.

'**You really can't keep your mouth shut, nee?'**

'_Shut up… it just… came out.'_

'**I noticed…' **her inner replied blandly.

Sakura gulped and waited for the sure to come, punishment. It seems like everything was slowing down. _"You've got guts to say that to me girl… You're worse than your mother, I assure you! Neviril, all she did was stomp away and slammed the door in my face… you… you really need to keep your mouth shut. That's why I'm going to teach you the art of 'patience' and 'serenity', I believe if I leave you like this, a war might start because of your big mouth."_

Sakura didn't know if it was a joke or something but giggled anyways. "Thank you so much! You won't regret it! I promise!"

"_I think I already have…"_ he mumbled to himself as he watched her jump around. _"Stop jumping around. You must learn to keep still. I am Clavis, the Guardian of Dark. Now get out of my sight."_

"Second to last one, Sakura… you can do it…" she mumbled to herself as she approached the red building.

The doors were already open, much to her surprise. The people were somewhat dressed like Light but instead of noble colors like gold, purple or blue, it was more orange, red and yellow.

She entered the mansion-like building and immediately, torches lit up around the walls in the room she was in. She looked around when finally her eyes caught movement coming from a doorway. Soon enough, she heard a strong baritone voice and out came a princely man. He had red hair and stunning light blue eyes. When he looked at her with the said eyes, she thought she was going to literally burst into flames.

"_You must be Sakura. Rumors say that you've been going around the place. Welcome to my abode. I am Oscar, the Guardian of Fire."_ He finished with a bow. Sakura beamed at him.

"The pleasure's all mine, sir." She answered before bowing as well.

He nodded and brought something out from behind his back. It was a map. He laid it out on the lone table in the room and gazed hard at it. A minute or so later, he looked up to the still waiting kunoichi and snapped his fingers.

She felt warmth on her wrist. She looked down to see a small ring of fire around her wrist and she watched, fascinated, as the said sliver of fire got sucked into one of the two last gems, it glowed like ember.

"Thank you! You won't be disappointed!"

"_I sure hope not." _He replied.

Sakura sighed tiredly, the last one. She tiredly dragged her aching body –from her previous journey to Yukigakure- to the final house.

The women were looking at her like she was something very pathetic. Maybe they were right. She hadn't had a shower in four days since her journey and she really didn't think she looked too good either. She entered the house and heard the bell chime of a joyful laugh. She looked around her until she saw a charming young man, seemingly 17, with brown hair and blue eyes.

He smiled at her, _"Hiya! It's a pleasure to finally meet you! I thought you would never come! You can call me Randy, I'll be looking forward to teaching you the powers of the Wind!" _he then caught her in a bone-crushing hug that she returned half-heartedly. He loosened his grip and moved back a little then frowned. The change of mood was so sudden and so immediate that she was wondering if he was smiling in the first place.

"_You look tired… are you ill? You're all pale!" _he started panicking.

Sakura's brain seemed to block him out, as the only thing she could hear was her inner singing a lullaby. Her vision started to blur a little and before she knew it, she was looking at the white ceiling with the young Guardian yelling for something or other.

The last thing she saw before her vision went black were the faces of Julious, Lumiale and Mel, who all looked worried.

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**Yoohoo! Over here! Anyways, I hope you liked the chappie and please, please, please review! I know, I'm like, pathetic, I need constant reminding of love to go on T^T... Ok, I was totally joking here peoples. ==" I know my humour is "special" and yes, it's _"special" _and yes, you may call me crazy. But don't come running to me when you find yourself making a joke followed by awkward silence... and yes, it's happened to me before... yes, I know that my life sucks, too... I know that... =_="**


	6. Name

**Hello, so here's chapter umber five. And, unfortunately, still no Team 7... T_T... anyways, this one's kinda short so please read, enjoy and review! ^^!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Name**

When she regained consciousness, she noticed that she was on a bed that smelled of wild flowers. It was refreshing and very relaxing at the same time. She sat up and looked around. It was a room. It was quite small, but very homey: a queen sized bed, a vanity, a wardrobe, a bedside table with a half used candle and a door leading to the toilet. But what attracted her most was the whole wall behind the bed which was, if you go through the door, was right in front of you. The whole wall was tainted glass. The beautiful colors all mixed in an esthetic manner to make the image of the sky with some kind of machines flying through the clouds.

She slowly got up, stumbling a little at first but regained balance fairly quickly, towards the vanity. It had much jewelry on top of it and she touched each one of them. Then, her fingers touched something bigger and she looked at it. It was a box. A small wooden treasure chest. She opened it up and gasped quietly. Inside, was a picture of a woman with a baby in her arms… both had _pink_ hair. She picked it up and unknowingly, a few tears escaped her, could this have been her mother? Something else was in it. A locket. A real locket this time. It was a heart shape and it was made of real gold. On the back was incrusted the word _Aaeru_.

"Aaeru?" she asked herself. It did sound vaguely familiar, and for a minute, she could just hear a distant memory in her mind, of a female voice calling out that word.

"Aaeru," came the deep voice of Julious. "In our language, it can be translated to the phrase: the highest form of love."

"The… highest… form of love," she repeated, a little dazzled. Then, suddenly, deep in her mind, she could hear a voice… a woman's voice, calling out that word once again.

"Do you recognize it?"

She shook her head, but then, slowly reversed the action and nodded, albeit hesitatingly, "I'm not sure. It seems as though I_ have_ heard it before… but it's… just a word."

"It's not just a word," Lumiale's voice spoke up; Sakura noticed for the first time that he was actually here, "It's a name. _Your_ name."

"My name? No, I'm-

"Haruno Sakura. That was the name your Aunt Lilium and her husband gave you. Your real name is Aaeru."

"I don't understand."

Mel came up and touched the pendant, "Your parents loved you more than anything. They would've risked their lives to protect you."

"That is why your name has so much significance," Clavis added, "They were willing to let you go, to let you go without the knowledge of your birthplace, nor your birth parents."

Marcel smiled bitter sweetly, "Aaeru means the highest form of love one can give. The form of love that is hard to gain and much harder to give."

Even with all these hints and clues about what her name really meant, the usually-intelligent girl found that, even if she says, "I will protect all those I love", yet, she realized then, that she didn't even know the meaning of love.

Seeing her confused and sorrowful face, Clavis went up to her and put a hand on top of her head, "How strong your love is for someone… depends on how much you are willing to give for them. How much you are willing to sacrifice for them."

_Sacrifice_.

Sakura began to understand a little bit more.

_Love is a form of sacrifice. Many ninjas go through that everyday. They love their country, thus, they are willing to sacrifice their lives for it. _She began to reminisce the times where she would hear people say, "I love you", so she vaguely wondered, how many people could answer the question truthfully? _How much would you give to that person?_

The Guardians saw that the girl comprehended it and nodded to each other. "Sakura, if you are ready, we will immediately begin your training. But first, how much time exactly will you be able to stay here?"

Sakura pondered on that question, "I… don't really know. How much time would it take to master the elements?"

The Guardians looked at each other doubtfully, "A year… each: that would make nine years, plus five years of perfectionism… fourteen years."

Sakura remained silent. They had doubted that she would just accept. She was young, and she probably wanted freedom.

Marcel was about to say something along the lines of 'You can choose the elements you want to learn to decrease the time'… then suddenly, the word "Time" came spinning in his head, "Wait… we didn't take heed to the time difference! Time here is more or less about five times faster than yours. So, in truth, ten years here… would only account to about two years in your world." He explained cheerfully and waited for her reaction.

She smiled, "Thank you… but it wasn't the duration I was worried about. I would've gladly stayed here for about ten years. It's just… I was more worried about me fitting in."

The Guardians chuckled, "You need not to worry about that," Julious reassured her, "People here know the meaning of community. They would be happy to have a new family member."

Just like that, Sakura's doubts, her fears and her anxieties faded away. They took her on a tour around their world.

"So, tell us a bit about yourself. I only know you as Neviril's daughter… but what are your origins? You were not brought up here like your mother was."

Mel absent mindedly touched the gemstone on her necklace, "He's right… and her parents… does she know about…" the exotic being let the sentence hang. Sakura raised an eyebrow at this.

_My parents?_, she thought, _What about them?_

Victor hummed tiredly, "Neviril always kept secrets of her own… _like that man she married._" he said, saying the last part of his phrase in their ancient language that Sakura could not understand. After that little comment, everyone began to chatter amongst themselves about Neviril and her husband and whatnot.

"Silence!" Julious's voice boomed out. "We are disturbing nature…" he said more quietly. Everyone began to quiet down at once and just listened to the wind blow through the lush green meadow they were currently in. "Now, I believe Clavis has something to say."

"Yes, thank you. I know you all have questions about Sakura's genetic origins. The only ones who know about it are the original Guardians, we will call them here later and we will give you all the details. But what we want to know now, is what are your origins in the world you came from." He turned to the nervous 14 year old.

"Oh, me. Well, um… I come from Konoha. I'm a kunoichi-

"She's a ninja!" exclaimed Marcel.

Sakura ignored the sudden outburst and continued, "I lived with my aunt Yuri and her husband for the past 14 years of my life, serving Konoha."

"Yuri… you mean Lilium? Neviril's sister?" Ernst asked.

Julious nodded, "They left their village a few months ago… then they came here, you remember, about six months ago."

Marcel nodded and leaned back into . Lumiale giggled softly at him, "Still not getting enough nap time, Marcel?" he asked. The answer he got was a light snore from his part.

Sakura looked at the exchange between the Guardians, even though they all had powers beyond mortal imagination, she found them to be charming. She turned to Clavis when he addressed the group.

"The others will come by shortly, until then, I suggest you all make spare rooms in your houses for them. I believe that tutoring from two Guardians at the same time will help her improve at a much faster pace."

With that, the Guardians, save Julious, Clavis and Lumiale parted towards their homes to make the needed preparations.

The pink-haired girl was confused, "There are more than one Guardian per element?" she asked.

Lumiale smiled kindly, "In truth, this world isn't the only one who uses the powers of the elements to this extent, meaning, that there is one other world where they also use element based energies. Thus, there are two groups, one stationed here, and the other, in another world."

"But then… wouldn't it be impossible that they come here?"

"Well…" Lumiale suddenly looked very uncomfortable about the conversation. Fortunately, Julious took the relay.

"The world they are looking over is about to be destroyed."

"D-Destroyed? Why?"

"Greed," Clavis answered, "The people who live there have been consumed by their own greed. Their planet is rotting away under the hateful pressure of their… disdainful acts towards nature. Their world will soon cease to exist, and unfortunately, not even the Guardians are able to restore balance. It is only a matter of time."

Sakura silently gulped, _what if that happens to the Shinobi world? There are too many people who want power…_

"Why don't you go inside, it will take a little longer. Traveling through space is a tricky task, after all." Lumiale ushered her into the small house. Actually, it was the only house in the area.

Her parents didn't live in the village, they liked to see the surrounding landscapes and feel the grass and whatnot, so they build a house right in the middle of the season cake, allowing a beautiful view, that's what Marcel (acting as the tour guide) told her.

_The house was small, one bedroom, with adjoining toilet, a small kitchen and living room. For baths, the Spring was the only place they had warm water and that's where everyone went. She had to get used to the fact that you have to wash yourself fully with cold river water before you can go to the hot springs called, evidently, the Spring._

The house was very cute. It was in a weird shape and the roof was made of golden yellow straw but it looked homey. The walls were beige and the door was pink. Small windows were on each side and a chimney was present on top as well.

The inside looked much bigger than the outside, for the living room had enough space to at least fit ten fully grown men. Light brown couches with colorful cushions circled a wooden coffee table. On the walls, to her glee, were full of pictures of her mother and her father.

She approached one of the walls carefully, as if it would just suck up all the pictures. She noticed vaguely that the pictures were actually moving, like a short video. In one of them, her mother was at least in her twenties, she had long wavy pink hair moved gently in the breeze and clear blue eyes. Her father had short silver hair and steel green eyes. He had his arms around her waist and his head on her shoulder while she smiled and laughed at the camera and had her hands on top of his.

They were a beautiful couple.

She traced the beautifully crafted wooden frames and smiled contentedly. It was nice to finally know your origins. For the next fifteen minutes, she pulled up the yellow chair, hiding behind the door leading to the kitchen and just sat there looking at all the moving pictures.

She was snapped out of her reverie when the door creaked open and the young Randy's head popped out, "The others are here and they're impatient to see you!"

Sakura nodded, put the chair back, inspecting herself from head to toe and nodding when she was content with her look. She came out of the door in time to see, what seemed to be like a college reunion, with everybody saying hello and hugging and asking "How are you?" to each other. They were the best of friends it seemed.

Julious shook the hand of one man who was smoking, their eyes held a bit of rivalry for each other, which was broken when the smoking man turned his gaze to me and smiled. I couldn't help but smile back.

Julious stood behind me, his hands on my shoulders, "This is Aaeru."

Sakura resisted the urge to flinch at the foreign name but bowed, "Nice to meet you all." Then came the introductions.

At the end, she was very confused as to who was who and which Guardian had what.

Lumiale noticed her confusion and quieted them down, "It's a bit, too complicated, I suppose. So, let's go through it like this: The first Guardians to the right and the latter Guardians to the left."

The young girl looked up at Lumiale, asking the meaning of what he just said. "A long time ago, we were only nine. The first nine Original Guardians. Then, we began to look for more for the other world. In the end, though, it became a mix and some of the Original Guardians went with the New ones and some New ones stayed here."

The beautiful man looked up and led a hand in the air, his arms motioning to a person, "Now, I will present to you the Original Guardians. Actually, most of them stayed here, Julious (light), Clavis (dark), myself (water), Luva (earth), Marcel (green), Olivie (dreams), Oscar (fire), Randy (wind) and last but not least, Zephel (steel)."

"The New Guardians, but not so new anymore, are Leonard (light), Francis (dark), Timka (water), Victor (earth), Sei-Lan (green), Mel (dreams), Charles (fire), Heuye (wind) and Ernst (steel). We will all help you achieve your goals. Right everybody?"

A series of nods and murmurs of agreement. Lumiale bent down so his mouth was near her ear, "The Original Guardians like myself, have already met your parents. If you have any questions about them, don't hesitate to ask any of us." He then winked at her, making her blush and look away.

"Hey, you're supposed to be teaching her! Not seducing her!" came the teasing remark of Zephel; he had a steel falcon on his shoulder that was moving its head left to right who seemed to be laughing right along with him.

(**a/n**: May I remind that you may find these people by just looking them up from the anime_ Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique _seasons 1 and 2, the 'Original Guardians' are from season 1 and the 'New Guardians' are from season two.)

Sakura flushed and hid her face with her hands, embarrassed but her insides were jumping, _these are people I can trust to help me get stronger. _She thought merrily.

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**i don't think you really enjoyed this one... but still! Thanks for making it to the bottom of the page!**


	7. Training Part 1

**Hey peoples! Thanks for those who reviewed! Here's the first part of Sakura's training, the second part is, of course, in the next chapter! Oh, right, the _Akatsuki_ arc of this story will be coming up shortly as well! ^^!**

**Please enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I didn't, don't or will ever own Naruto. (I always forget this thing!)

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Chapter 6: Training (Part 1)

Sakura's chest burned and her arms were starting to numb. She looked up but saw no opening.

_Is it over already? _She asked herself as her eyes slowly closed and as her body slowly began falling and hit the ground with a light '_thud_'.

_30 minutes earlier…_

"_Ha, ha! Since you've already made good friends with her, Lumiale, why don't you start off?" the young sly Guardian of Steel teased, elbowing the older man who thought nothing of the comment._

_Sakura's blush deepened even more as the comments became more frequent._

"_Stop teasing Zephel. You're making her uncomfortable. But if you insist. This way, Sakura. We'll find a quieter place to begin your training." The kind man said while leading her towards the Winter part of the world. Timka, the New Guardian of Water followed closely behind, lightly chuckling at his colleague's antics._

_They went further into the unusually warm winter paradise and stopped near a frozen lake. Timka lightly stepped onto the said lake and wandered until he was approximately in the middle of the large circle of ice. Sakura looked at Lumiale who motioned for her to go join Timka. She carefully put one foot down experimentally, the soft, deer-hide roman sandals given to her keeping her feet from feeling the cold._

_They really were very well-intentioned. Before she followed the Water Guardians, one of the women from the Water Clan, who she recognized from the clothes, gave her some Water Clan clothes, which were the tunics. It was sky blue and was a little on the short side, she admits, even though it ended just a little bit shy of her knees. _(**a/n**: you know, that famous pic w/the naruto girls in tunics? Yeah, she's wearing the same one except without the bead belt.)

_She stopped when she was three feet from Timka who was staring at her rather curiously. "Are afraid of water?" he asked, very serious about the question._

_It took a while for the question to sink in and she hesitatingly answered, "No… I'm not."_

_Timka had the look of this-is-going-to-be-harder-than-I-thought but then asked another question, "What is the principal cause for someone to fear the water?"_

_The girl thought about it, going into her medic mode and the answer came out quite easily, "Well, they're afraid of drowning."_

_Timka nodded, "Yes, so what is the principal phobia which causes the fear of water?"_

"_The fear of… dying." Sakura said, unsure because she was starting to understand where this was leading to._

"_So, I will ask you one more time: are you afraid of water?"_

_Sakura didn't ponder on it for long, the irrational fear of water was connected with the more-than-rational fear of dying, of drowning. _

"_Yes… I'm afraid of water." She said, this time, more sure about the answer she was giving._

_Timka smiled, "Then we should change that before we go into anything else." He sat Indian-styled onto the ice and motioned for her to do the same. Once she was comfortable, the young man called Lumiale over, saying that he was better at explaining things. The said man just chuckled and agreed, it _was _a good idea to have two professors, Lumiale wouldn't have thought about explaining the fear of water at all._

"_Water… is something that all living things need. The plants need it to grow, it creates the rain that we need to make our earth green and it quenches our thirst. Nothing can live without water. Yet, sometimes, this gentle nature can turn into devastating disasters: tsunamis, floods and it can be a great ally to lightning, but this is what you need to keep in mind: even though it may destroy, we must not forget that it also brings life." Lumiale explained._

_Timka nodded in agreement, "Now, we shall proceed the traditional way of doing things… stand up." _

_The apprentice stood up, "Back up a little," Timka instructed and he looked very guilty while saying so. As a matter of fact, Lumiale also looked very apologetic and worried as well. But before she could comprehend what mess she had been thrown into, Timka had, with a swish of his hand, made the ice disappear from under her. Needless to say, she fell into the ice cold water. She looked up, panicked, towards the surface where the very guilty faces of Lumiale and Timka were shown, before, to her utter shock, the hole froze over, regaining its solid matter, trapping her inside._

_Now…_

That's why, after passing five minutes without air, her lungs burned and she struggled to find a way _out_ with no avail. Her vision became black as she slowly sunk to the shallow bottom.

Her mind had started to malfunction with the lack of air.

The other Guardians went over to the two Water Guardians, looking around for their apprentice. They got very curious when there was no sign of the young girl. They had never been told what the lessons of Water Guardians consisted of. The clan was very powerful, able to summon water from almost anywhere, so, naturally, the others were curious as to how they got that power.

"Where's Aaeru?" the young Marcel asked while still looking around. Lumiale and Timka glanced at each other very guiltily once more but remained silent.

Her limbs were numb from the cold and she could feel her skin building up a sheet of ice, but could do nothing to protest. It was… infuriating. Anger started building up in her chest, maybe it was just the burning of the lack of air but it angered her that, she couldn't even do this simple thing. But… _what was she supposed to do exactly?_

Her anger dissipated into hopelessness. The anger flowed out like water and soon, she decided to let fate take over. She cleared her mind and let her body relax. And, for once, since she had been completely submerged… she felt at peace and slowly, her eyes closed. The last thing she saw was the face of a young girl looking at her curiously.

The Guardians waited for the two to answer their awaiting question but it seemed like neither one was going to do it. They were now on solid ground, almost staring down at their comrades. Their (failing) interrogation was stopped short when the ice cracked. When they turned their heads to it, a wave shot up and soon, was flowing towards them, a pale body lying inside.

They wondered about it but then it became panic when they recognized the body enclosed in the water. In a second, Victor was in the water just in time to catch her falling body before making his way to shore. He laid her down on the ground and they all crowded around, concern evident on their faces. The two who had submitted her into this fate just stayed back.

"Damn it, she's not breathing," Victor murmured.

Julious turned to the two, "What was the purpose of this?" he asked, very serious about the damage done.

Timka responded with, "She had to learn not to fear."

Julious turned to Lumiale, one of his most loyal friends and silently questioned him. Lumiale seemed distant and not paying attention at all, for the next second, he made his way swiftly to the water bank, his fingers grazing the water and immediately, a young, but still beautiful naiad shot up and looked up at him at him questioningly with her misty cerulean eyes. Her skin was blue-green, shining with different colors as the sun hit it, two pairs of fins on each side of her head: two were the size of her palm and two were only the size of two fingers. Her hands, which were placed on the ground to keep her above water, were webbed and she was wearing but a ragged deep blue dress.

"Please, help my friend," the water god pleaded. The naiad's fins moved a little and her small mouth formed an 'o' as she nodded.

People were panicking, as it has already been more than five minutes since she wasn't breathing, not including the time she was submerged in the water. Victor was going to snap when small webbed feet of a barely ten year-old naiad came into his view.

Her large eyes scanned the kunoichi once, before she kneeled down and hovered both her hands near the kunoichi's chest. The water naiads were very common in the lakes; they played in the water and usually stayed away from any human contact. But it seemed like this one didn't know any better, or is it just that she was curious.

After a few seconds of stillness, the young creature began moving her hands from side to side, almost in a graceful dance, going up and down like the tides and sometimes flowing straight like a river. They were taken away from the hypnotizing movement when their young apprentice finally started coughing water out and struggling for breath.

Sakura took deeply needed breaths before turning over onto her side, exhausted from the strain in her lungs. Mel took off his cape and put it on the girl as Oscar picked her up, heading towards her quarters. The others started filing out, either following Oscar or scolding Timka.

Lumiale sighed in relief and looked at the young naiad, "Thank you very much. You saved her life in the water and now this." But to his surprise, the naiad motioned for him to come over. He kneeled and bent down to her level until his ear was close to her mouth.

"We not summon water spirit. Was girl who spoke to spirit, water help her." She whispered in his ear, having a bit of trouble with their language.

Lumiale was shocked by this discovery, "She summoned the wave?" he asked, unsure about that. The creature just nodded.

"Me and friends watch girl drown. She call water spirit, she want to live, water move and water help girl." She explained, still feeling the way the water bent at the girl's will to live.

"Thank you for that information, have a good day. And don't wander off too deep." He warned her as she waved and gracefully dived into the water before rejoining her friends.

Lumiale made his way back, a bit curious. Was it because she had experiences with the elements that the Water Spirit had already been acquainted with her dire need to live? That he would show compassion for the girl who almost lost her life in its depths. Nature truly was a mysterious thing.

When he arrived at the small house, there was no one but Clavis, Timka and Oscar left. They were crowded around the couch, which was moved to accommodate her better, near the fireplace where a blazing fire, courtesy of Oscar, was warming the room.

He silently approached the couch and looked down onto its occupant. A blanket was wrapped around tightly around her form; He could only see her pastel pink hair, her nose and her hands which were near her mouth. She was awake but not saying anything.

Clavis put a hand on Oscar's shoulder, mutely telling him that it would be better to leave them alone. The Fire Lord hesitatingly gave in and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him to keep the draft out.

When the two were out, Lumiale's eyes met with Timka's, who was sitting on the arm of the couch, at the opposite end of her face. The graceful man went around and placed himself in a chair near her head.

"I'm sorry. Today was your first day and it ended up being a tragedy," he spoke.

Timka joined in, "We didn't think it would've come this far actually. We-we should have told you what we were going to do, I'm ash-

"I heard it."

Her soft, barely audible voice stopped Timka short, "What?"

Sakura pulled the blanket down under her chin, "In the water. I heard a voice. It was calming. It saved me."

Lumiale proceeded to look at Timka's confused face to explain, "She met the Water Spirit."

The Prince looked up at Lumiale, "The… Water Spirit?"

"With each element, comes a Guardian. But the Guardian is but a mortal who helps balance the world. The Spirits are the ones controlling almost everything, from the growing grass, to the changing waters. We help humanity, they help nature. You will probably have to meet other Spirits to be able to master the elements." Lumiale explained.

Timka seemed a lot cheerier, "That means you are well on your way to becoming a great water mistress if the Water Spirit already gave you his permission."

Sakura smiled, she thought that she had failed miserably. When she was in the water, she felt the hopelessness a shinobi felt when there were no more escape routes, no more plans. Then, from the deep abyss, she had heard a soothing male voice telling her to not give up. Telling her to keep going, because, this was only the beginning and that the future that awaited her was far harder than this one. _Finally_... a voice that believed in her, a voice that, for once, encouraged her to keep on going, to keep on fighting… to keep on _living_.

_I'll remember to thank the Water Spirit… someday, _she thought as she fell into a deep slumber…

But this was only the beginning.

"Let it flow through you naturally like the air you breathe…" the soft advice came of use as Sakura's body relaxed, arms in front of her, her right further from her body than her left, as she gracefully stepped back, her arms following the movement, and stepped forward. The lake water soon began dancing in a duet with her arms, moving from side to side, creating a small, almost unnoticeable wave.

"Good, I think you're getting the hang of it. Now, try to make the Sacrea flow stronger."

Sakura stepped back, in position, and with one partly slow twirl of her body, the whole lake had retracted down onto itself, and with one final imaginary push of air of her arms, the water shot out, submerging the area in water.

"Great!" Lumiale complimented and turned to Timka for his comment.

The said boy just nodded, "You have made great progress in only three days. But, I'm afraid your Water training will be suspended here for the moment. They accorded us three days to get you used to the basics of the element. We will train you again after the other eight sessions. Thank you for sticking with us."

Sakura smiled cheerfully, "No, thank _you_ for not giving up on me."

"Julious will be waiting for you at the Oasis, in the Summer," Lumiale informed her. The girl nodded, bowed deeply, waved and ran off towards the opposite land.

Sakura wandered around the desert for a while before she finally found the patch of green in the endless golden-brown. She sighed when she took off her shoes and felt the soft grass underneath her feet.

"Sakura… you're here."

The said girl looked for the source of the voice and met up with Julious, free of all his armor and was just wearing a dress shirt and what seemed to be like horse-riding kind of pants and long, black boots. He was sitting very casually on a hammock that was strewn between two palm trees. She had never, before this, seen the man relax this much and just smiled at the rare sight. Leonard was smoking away on one of his own hammocks, but he was really rocking from side to side, completely at ease.

"Julious-sama, Leonard-sama," she greeted with a bow. Both blonds nodded in greeting.

"The light, much like the water, is something all living things need. But, apart from the natural benefits, let's explore the profit it has in battle." Julious started.

Leonard suppressed the urge to snort but continued his comrade's explanations, "You ask how we can use the light as a power source? As an offensive source? Well, people often look to the light for…" he paused, almost cringing at the word, "hope. Hope seems to be what most humans compare light to. As long as there is light, there can be hope for the future."

Sakura laid down on the grass, listening to these words. "Light gives hope," she summarized and she sat up, "But, you're right Leonard-sama, how_ can _I use the light, which seemingly has no power at all?"

"But we have just told you. It gives people hope. It may help clear a foggy mind… or fog it up even more for certain uses." Leonard clued in slyly, earning a glare from Julious.

Sakura pondered the new bit of information, _It clears a foggy mind? The… mind?_

She looked up at Julious, "Light is used to control the mind?" she asked, very perplexed at the finding.

Julious sighed, their whole teaching plans down the drain after Leonard spilled the whole can of beans, which she wasn't _supposed_ to know until she had at least attained _half_ of her training. "Yes. You may use it like that. It is somewhat cruel," he glanced at Leonard who thought nothing of it, "Using someone's insecurities against one's self, bringing into their mind the false sense of hope which only the light can bring, destroying the person psychologically, yes. _But_," he saw the excited glint in the teen's eyes and stopped it at once. "You will not be learning that for quite a long time."

Sakura resisted the urge to pout but let out a disappointed 'humph' before settling down. Julious also resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Leonard for bringing false hope into the girl. Ha, the irony of it all, already using the said powers on his own pupil.

Seeing the disapproving look on Julious's face, she immediately realized that she had been, unknowingly trapped. She looked around her until a small speck of golden light flew, discreetly, from the back of her head. She swiftly caught it then inspected it. It was just a small ball of light… of light. She replayed the previous ten minutes and red marred her face, Leonard just used his powers against her!

Leonard felt a threatening aura next to him and opened his eyes. The small speck of light was harshly thrown onto his chest, it disappeared the moment it touched him though. He smiled sheepishly, "What? Thought you might've wanted a little taste of what you can learn," insert Julious's glare, "Uh, after proper training of course!" he added.

"Yes, indeed. Now, if you are done playing, we might actually begin," Julious said, scolding the other Guardian of Light indirectly.

"The light comes from your eyes. Sometimes, but not often, the elements lie in a part of our body, like Fire, its power resides in the diaphragm, while the wind, in your lungs. So, if you must concentrate your energy somewhere, let it gather in your eyes. The light may help you to see in the dark, literally, as well as figuratively. It can light up your way and guide you." Julious had small ball of golden-yellow light hovering in his hand. "Try it. Focus your Sacrea. If you used it correctly, you will be able to see as if you were seeing through a magnifying glass."

Sakura followed the direction, her eyes closing. She had channeled the energy in her eyes and opened them after a bit. There was no effect. She didn't see the 'magnifying' state she should see in and her eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

Leonard lazily opened one eye and glanced at her, he and Julious both knew the problem, a problem that will take time to solve. He sighed, getting a little impatient, "You're focusing the wrong kind of energy, kid," he finally told her.

She looked up at him, question in her frustrated eyes, "What do you mean?"

The blond sat up from his spot, "Your body is generating the wrong energy."

Still seeing the confused face on the girl, Julious went into the details, "You are still getting used to having two dominant energy sources, but, instinctively, your body uses the one which is most familiar to it."

"So… basically, my body is accustomed to chakra so it automatically uses it instead of Sacrea."

"You got it, kid." Leonard fixed his eyes with hers, "Do you think you'll be able to… block that source? Because if you don't… you'll have a hell lot of trouble going through our whole program." He said very seriously.

Sakura was dismayed on that idea. Her chakra control was basically the thing that she prided herself in the most and now they're suddenly telling her to _stop using it_? She looked down at her lap. Sacrea is a whole new source of power that comes from nature that the body gathers, almost the complete opposite of chakra which resides inside your body from birth.

Her hands tightened, _But there isn't really anything else I could do… is there? I have no use for chakra in this world. _She convinced herself, her logical mind winning over her emotional one.

Soon enough, she had, albeit hesitatingly, blocked her chakra coils, it was something Tsunade taught her to prevent anyone from sensing her at all, the energy level was limited so you didn't have to worry about accidentally letting it leak. It felt like she was locking up a part of herself with it… maybe she was. Those thoughts didn't last for long though. She concentrated once again.

_Sacrea is a form of energy which resides in nature. You are but a tool for it... an object of transmission. Sacrea is what keeps the world alive… it is the air you breathe, the ground you walk on… and the light you see…_

She opened her eyes and marveled at the sight. She could see about a mile away, kind of… almost like a Byakugan effect. When she looked at the ground, she could see the ants and the various bugs moving around in the grass, when she looked at her hands, she could see her fingerprint and handprint pattern clearly, and when she looked back at her mentors, she saw every little stitch and thread on their clothes.

She giggled at the sight of a ladybug crawling up Leonard's arm that he didn't even notice. She stood up and took the said bug onto her finger, the red seemed much redder, she could count the numerous black spots on its back.

"This is so cool!" she exclaimed happily and slowly disabled the power. She blinked a few times before her eyes got used to… the smallness of things. She could no longer see the ants and she had to squint to be able to see her handprint.

"Good, I think you're getting the hang of it. We can move on to our next lesson now, how to make a ball of light."

Sakura crossed her legs once more and listened carefully.

* * *

The girl's breath got shallower as it was getting harder to breathe. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and tried to concentrate. The heat was certainly getting the better of her as she had to constantly take big breaths to be able to fill her lungs with the enough amount of air.

"Do you think you'll be able to continue like that?" Oscar questioned the girl. Sakura didn't answer but kept her arm up, straight in front of her.

"Hmm…" Charles was beginning to worry about her well-being, "I think you should stop for now. Go have a rest and drink some water, you're getting too dehydrated." He advised her and put a hand on her shoulder.

Feeling the hand, Sakura grunted but stopped fueling her energy. She looked pitifully at the small, very tiny ember that had accumulated on her hand as it died out. That little thing took her almost five hours to make.

She sighed tiredly, fire just wasn't her element. She was more of water than fire. The two Fire masters understood that immediately after assessing her fire power.

"It's okay. Fire is just one of the elements that you will be having trouble with. It seems to me like you are more tilted towards Water than Fire, so it's normal for you to have trouble." Charles explained comfortingly.

The girl huffed, Oscar handed her a bottle of water which she gulped down fervently, she wiped her mouth and sighed once more, "My chakra basically has three elements from the start and the most dominant are wind and water." She admitted.

"So it's normal that you'll be having a hard time with Fire, since Water is its opposite… and you might have trouble with Earth as well… anyways, you said three? What is the third?"

"Lightning. I found that one out when I had tried using this jutsu that my sensei always used." She turned to them and found content expressions on their faces that said looks-like-we're-back-in-business.

"Sakura, did you know that Lightning is very much connected to Fire?" Charles said, having the voice of a trivia person, "Someone who is able to use lightning has to have the ability to use Fire as well."

Her thoughts went to Sasuke, he uses fire-based jutsus all the time, maybe it was a family trait but still, he's able to use the chidori. Maybe there was some connection to lightning and fire… but in her case, it wasn't really helping.

"Uh… alright… even if we do _say _that there is a connection, _how _am I going to use that to my advantage?"

"It's simple really," Oscar cut in, "Lightning is simply a stronger element which has Fire as its fuel. So if you know lightning, it's sure that you'll be able to master fire. In your case, it will be the opposite. We will start out from the strongest to be able to use the basics."

Sakura blinked, "Yeah… I guess I could try it…" She looked around her, assessing the field, they were currently in a desert, no trees around to be burned and the sand prevented the Fire… if there was one in the first place, to not roam free.

_After several hours of lightning bolts…_

Sakura became very frustrated, no that was an understatement. She was aggravated and well… she lost it.

"Why! –Lightning- can't! –Punch- I! –Lightning- Do THIS THING!" With that, she unleashed her anger out into one final lightning bolt, only for it to not go as planned and instead of those familiar lines of electric blue; Sakura only saw red and felt heat before she fell down to her knees breathing roughly.

Oscar and Charles had already, from the beginning of her tantrum, hidden themselves protectively behind a big boulder, only their heads appeared.

"She did it…" Charles observed.

"It seems like it. But, it was just luck. It came from her anger, she couldn't control her attack, it backfired and the power wasn't as strong, thus resulting in fire instead of lightning."

Sakura breathed heavily as she listened to Oscar's explanation. She was getting her emotions mixed up again. Once again, she let her emotions get the better of her. She sat up and let her frustration out by taking a deep breath. With one of her hands up in front of her, she took another deep breath and closed her eyes.

_Feel it going through your body… and let it resurface._

She exhaled, fully calm, she felt all warm and fuzzy inside. She giggled, feeling something tickle her whole arm. She opened her eyes and smiled at the fist sized fire that was in her hand, burning quite nicely. Emotions are powerful things that should not get in the way of effort.

The two Fire Guardians clapped and congratulated her. "See? You got the hang of it!"

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**Please, please, please review if you liked it, 'cuz, really, I'm taking time out of my busy life to update! Well, on to next chapter!**


	8. Training Part 2

**Heres's the second part of Sakura's training, the Akatsuki arc will officially commence in the 9th chapter! If you have any suggestions that you guys would like put into this story to make it more enjoyable, don't to PM me or review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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Chapter 7: Training (Part 2)

"You're a natural!" Randy hollered from his place on ground. He elbowed the other Wind Guardian, "Right, Heuye?"

He nodded, "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" he shouted.

Sakura laughed as she glided form breeze to breeze, sliding along its invisible waves and naturally making it come to her. She landed on the grassy ground in the green meadow of Spring and giggled, "Up until now, I haven't had the slightest clue as to what Sacrea was. I'm just a natural Wind born… I've… I've always wanted to fly." She admitted, looking up at the sky, "It's been a dream that I've always wanted to realize. Being a kunoichi, using jutsus, it was probable to do that, but… that takes a lot of strength to be able to pull something like that off."

"I guess… by the way I see it, since you basically mastered the basics of Wind in only…" Heuye checked his watch, "Three hours, we can already start to teach you how to use it in battle."

Randy motioned them to move back a little. He turned himself to a lone tree in the distance. He put his right arm straight up over his head and with a quick movement, he brought it down swiftly. Sakura barely felt the air change and suddenly the tree in the distance got sliced clean in half.

Sakura gaped, "How'd you do that?"

"Air pressure and wind. Try it." He moved back and pointed to another tree, closer to where they were.

Sakura copied his movements perfectly, but alas, it just shook the small amount of leaves that were growing. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried again, ending up with the same result.

"What's wrong?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else.

Heuye, being the spectator until now came up to her, "Your position. You don't seem too comfortable."

Sakura blinked, "Wha?"

"A breeze doesn't always have to go the same direction every time. One may go right, one may go left, one may go up and the other down. No two winds have to be alike." Heuye explained.

The kunoichi thought it out, "A position… that makes me comfortable." She immediately bent her knees a little and instead of putting her arm straight up, she put it diagonally over her chest, her fingers straight. Gathering wind onto her arm to slice the air, she brought it down diagonally and watched with pride as the tree was, diagonally, cut clean.

The three started to laugh, for what reason? We may never know, a joke that they could only hear? A message carried by the wind? Maybe…

* * *

She looked around, this was very different from what she was used to. Maybe that's why she wasn't able to concentrate that well. The beeping of the machines, the clacking of the keyboard and all… that… NOISE! It was going to drive her crazy!

"What is the purpose of Steel? Not to offend you or anything," she added while looking up at the older man.

Ernst pushed his glasses up, "Ingenuity." Was his, oh-so-helpful answer.

Her eye twitched, "Ingenuity?" she repeated. She looked down at the pieces of scrap metal in front of her, "And what, per say, am I supposed to do with 'ingenuity'?"

"You're supposed to use it to make something, of course!" the 17 year-old, Zephel answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She glared at him and was about to say something when his metal falcon swooped in over her head, she had to duck to keep from getting her head sliced off by its blade-like wings.

"Just because you can make _that_," she said, "Doesn't mean _I_ can."

Zephel sighed, "You're an outdoor girl aren't you?"

She looked at him incredulously, "I'm a _kunoichi_: someone who has been living, up till now, in the wilderness, in camps and villages without high technology things. The most high-tech thing in Konoha that shinobi use was probably the micro-transmitter."

She sighed once more, "I don't see how this is going to help me." She picked up a piece of metal and bent it with her super strength.

"Improvisation." Ernst answered. Sakura twitched at his one-word answers but said nothing about it. "You have all the tools necessary in here to make anything of your desire, and yet, you are still there, sitting on the ground." He continued, still tapping away on the keyboard, eyes glued to the gigantic screen in front of him.

She once again fixated the metal scraps; _Make anything I need, eh? I _have_ needed… _

She picked up the pieces and started molding the outside to form the familiar shape. She looked at the box with the chips and wires and rummaged through it. Without hesitating, she picked up some chips and some wires, and, as if it magically came to her, she started connecting them together. It went like that for the most part of her day, she would fumble around the various scrap boxes, pick up something, analyze it for a few seconds before either placing it on her work table or back into the box.

At the end of the day, she sighed out of relief and wiped her forehead. She was finally finished!

Ernst had been watching her the whole time from the reflection on his screen and smiled when she had laughed silently. Zephel came around in the evening to find Sakura gone.

"Uh, where'd she go?"

"Finished." Ernst answered.

He looked doubtfully at the New Guardian of Steel and shook his head, determined to see what kind of masterpiece the girl created. He ran out of the mansion and jumped right off the giant tree, landing a little shakily onto the ground before going towards Sakura's place.

He knocked once but no answer was given. He heard a peculiar sound coming from one of the rooms and decided to go around the house. Luckily for him, the girl had left the window open to her room and he peeked inside.

"What's that?" he asked. Sakura jumped three feet into the air and turned around quickly, kunai in hand. She lowered her guard when she saw who it was… and immediately turned red when she saw she was only in a towel… a very short and wet towel, might I add.

"Agh! Get out!"

"But, I'm already out!" he shouted in his defense and ducked when her brush was chucked at him.

_A few thrown objects later…_

She sat huffily onto her couch, fully dressed this time, in her newly cleaned kunoichi clothes and motioned for the Guardian to sit as well, she crossed her arms, "What were doing back there?" she asked accusingly.

"What did _I_ do? I was just coming to see what you had made." He mumbled.

The girl blinked and looked at him disbelievingly before getting up. She disappeared behind her bedroom door and came out with the said 'masterpiece'. She handed it to him.

"What is it for?" he asked.

She giggled at his ignorance, "To dry my hair, of course! It's a blow-dryer! I've been in need one of these here, what with my Water training and everything!" she exclaimed with a grin. Zephel sweat-dropped and fell down anime style.

He got up quickly and analyzed the object, "Girls… I'll never understand them. You could have made _anything_, an atomic gun, a robot, a micro-bug… but _nooo_, you made… something to _dry your hair_."

Sakura smiled and stuck out her tongue childishly.

"Women…" the young boy mumbled, which reminded her of a certain lazy pineapple head.

* * *

She realized that, at this instant, she hated the ground more and more. Her feet were bound, her arms as well.

"V-Victor-sama… how long am I going to stay like this?" she asked him, the mountain of rock encasing her whole body, save her head.

He turned to her, "It's your choice really. You don't seem too enthusiastic on learning the powers of the Earth. It's a shame really."

"Ara, ara, you should give her room, it's only been one day," Luva, the other Guardian of Earth informed.

That's right. Haruno Sakura has been stuck in that block of earth for more than 24 hours.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, knowledge is everything, right?" Victor asked to no one in particular. Luva just chuckled at that comment before going back to his book.

Sakura sighed, "Knowledge is everything, eh? But it doesn't seem like it's helping…" she mumbled nder her breath.

"Ah, but there are different kinds of knowledge in the world, my dear. You just have to find the right one." Victor added.

The kunoichi sighed, she could use her inhuman strength to just bust the thing open… but that would be cheating. Yep, cheating. She put her head down; she couldn't feel her limbs anymore. Her body had relaxed around the earth after the first few hours, but now the ridges of the internal layer were getting uncomfortable, but not to the point of hurting her.

She closed her eyes; _Knowledge is what helped me get through school… back then. _She thought of the notes that Iruka left: Brilliant student on paper but still very lacking in physical terms. Year after year, it was always the same, excellent grades, but below average in terms of physical skills.

"Sometimes… knowledge can only get you so far…" she whispered.

_It may be something very powerful. The right knowledge given to the wrong person can become a danger. She knew that more than anyone in this world. If ever an enemy shinobi completed the feat of getting that sort of… knowledge, Konoha would fall apart. That's why Konoha shinobi are there… to prevent them from succeeding._

"Knowledge is a powerful thing… yes. But to use that knowledge… you have to have the will to look into everything, read between the lines…" she mumbled to herself.

_It is the same with the Earth. It can bring you food, but first, you have to know how to cultivate it. Cultivate it… _

She gasped in realization. Her hands forced their way until her palms were touching the rough texture. With a breath in and with her eyes closed (she concentrated better this way), she concentrated her Sacrea to her hands, much like she would with chakra to get enhanced force.

She opened her eyes rapidly while her hands pushed…

She found great relief when she was finally able to sit down, the earth around her crumbled under the force. She looked around to find that the earth was still levitating up in the air around her.

"It seems like it has grown quite _attached_ to you…" Luva said jokingly.

Sakura sweat-dropped at the comment… to think that even Guardians used puns. But she couldn't help but laugh, the pieces of ground around her moved as well, as if they were laughing.

"Controlling the Earth will take time, for it will not bow down to just anyone." Victor explained, but seeing that his comment passed by deaf ears, he let it go.

* * *

"Marcel-sama… eto…" she looked around wildly. The cool grass felt nice under her stressed feet. She looked around wildly, I'm not playing anymore!"She shouted.

She could hear Marcel's childish giggles as the trees rustled here, then there, then the bushes… and the flowers. He could be anywhere!

"Marcel-sama… sh-shouldn't you be… teaching me…"

"He is," she turned sharply behind her to find Sei-Lan, who she hadn't noticed at all… but it was a wonder why she didn't notice him before. After all, he was there, canvas on the wooden set, paints open, brush in hand and he was looking over at a bush of wild roses of different colors.

"What?"

"He _is_ teaching you. Greenery is about abundance. Thus, it can be used for many things. Like, per say, a way of communication." He explained, starting to mix his paints and making swift but precise strokes on the currently blank canvas.

She looked around, "A way of communication? A way of… getting information to one another?" she asked herself. Her eyes traveled around to the trees, the flowers, the bushes, everything really. She plopped down onto the grass, "I can't believe I'm losing at a game of Hide-and-Seek…" she mumbled grumpily to herself.

She sat cross-legged and looked around. It wasn't as if she wasn't trying to find him. It became a little difficult once the young Guardian had somehow adapted himself into the surroundings. She closed her eyes and sighed huffily.

That's when she heard it.

"_Over here…"_

It was a small voice. A tiny voice even. Barely audible.

"_He's over here!"_

Another whispered. She looked around wildly, narrowing her eyes on Sei-Lan who was innocently painting away the rose bush.

"_This way!"_

Another whispered. She looked over to the said rose bush and blinked.

_Did… did that flower just talk?_

She sweat-dropped nervously and crawled her way to the 'normal' bush. A shaky finger touched the petals of a yellow one. As soon as she did that, her eyes lost focus and she saw something…

She saw firstly, when Lumiale was watering the bush. She could see his smiling face. The vision blurred a bit and when it refocused, she saw Sei-Lan setting up his painting materials… and finally… she could see Marcel behind the bush, whispering to the flowers behind to kindly hide him.

She was brought out of her stupor by Sei-Lan's voice, "Sakura-san… not to be rude or anything, but I won't be able to finish if you don't move out of the way."

She excused herself and moved back, with a mischievous idea, her back legs sprung up and she jumped behind the bush, straight onto Marcel himself.

"Ah! Y-you found me!" he exclaimed.

"Hai, I found you!"

Greenery was abundant. It brought resources. After asking a lot about it, she found out that it really _was_ the flowers who were talking to her before. By touching one of them, she could see the world in their point of view, their memories. She had touched a newly blooming flower and saw the way she was engulfed in darkness until slowly, the sun came into her view, her vision getting wider by the second until she could see the birds. By touching a living thing, she was able to see what it had been through, but, for now, it was only limited to flowers. Sei-Lan had said that it took a lot of training to be able to see through an actual human being. But still, she couldn't help but feel excited at the thought.

* * *

She sweat-dropped as Olivie pranced around the room, "Olivie-sama…" she gritted. Her hair was puffed up like a poodle's fur, her face full of make-up and she had a pink frilly dress on.

She looked at Mel, the other Guardian of Dreams for help, but he just smiled at her, holding his crystal ball in his hands.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan! Leave it to me to make you blossom!" the exuberant man winked at her before going to the third wardrobe in the room.

She sighed, "Why is Dream an element? Not to… offend you or anything…" she quickly added on second thought.

"Hmm… indeed. Dreams are not of reality… yet without them, I think the world would be dull. What if no one dared to dream anymore? Who would invent the things we take for granted? Like doors, for example, what if no one had the dream to separate rooms? We would all see each other all the time, with no privacy. What if no one dreamed the impossible? Would the impossible even exist?" Olivie sang brightly.

The more Sakura thought about it, the more it made sense. If she didn't have any dreams, what would she have become? She was afraid to answer that question.

Olivie made a noise of approvement, "Hum-hm! Found it!" he turned to the girl and was about to say something when he saw the look on his apprentice's face and smiled, _She got it_.

"Mel-sama… what can I do with Dreams?"

"Well… it really isn't supposed to hurt anyone. After all dreams are very important, it shows a world you created with situations which you think about often. The most you can do in a fight… is to… well… trap them in their dreams."

She turned to the fortune teller, "Trap them in their dreams?"

"Dreams," Olivie started, "Are but illusions created by the mind to get away from reality. For example, a person who is suffering in reality may become happy in their dreams… but, it's just an illusion that will not last… for when you wake up…" he stopped his sentence there, he never liked getting into the dark side of things.

"When you wake up, you realize where you are, and it's certainly not in your dreams… Dreams… are but an escape from Reality, not a cure. A mere illusion to keep living. To keep hoping for a better world." Sakura continued.

The three stayed quiet for some time. Dreams were somewhat harsh. They showed you what you wanted, what you longed for the most… but when you open your eyes…. They disappear. But people need these dreams. They need a reason to keep on living, and what's better than a vision of a better future that awaits them?

It is but little happiness in a world of suffering. It is but a short duration of laughter in a cruel reality.

"Mel-sama… Olivie-sama… I… would like to know… how to take people into their dreams."

_Even if it's only for a limited time…_

* * *

"Clavis-sama… what does the darkness do to help people?" the girl asked, for once, not being drowned, not having heat stroke or stuck in the ground. She was… having tea with the two Guardians of Darkness. They were sitting around a small tea table in the Autumn, enjoying the view of the stars and the shining moon. On the table were multiple cupcakes, cookies, pieces of different cake and tea.

"Darkness brings tranquility. Look, listen and feel what is around you," Clavis said.

Sakura looked around, not one thing was moving. The wind didn't even blow, it was quiet, dark… but… she felt at peace.

"The world needs darkness… it brings sleep, it brings the calm, the end of a busy day, where you can relax," Francis put in.

She smiled, enjoying it… but… even if she was supposed to use all the elements, she was at loss. She already knew the somber powers of the Darkness. It brought fear inside the hearts of humans… once the bright hopeful sun dies down and the cold waning moon watches over… fear takes the place of hope… it slowly consumes one's self… until there is nothing more than… pure… hopeless… fright. An apprehension that couldn't be erased.

It was a psychological thing, really. The dark brings the unknown. You may never know what could be hiding in their depths, which is why so many children fear the dark. Their imagination goes far, anything could burst out from the shadows, so they fear it, and they reject its presence.

She could already feel that dark power inside her. Her heart which was so accustomed to it by now. She was used to hide in the shadows. To _become_ a person's nightmare. To be… their end. So, it might not be such a difficult thing to understand. She was like the Darkness in some ways. She was feared, for no one knew what she was _capable_ of doing to them, but having an apprehension of she _could_ do.

In her hand floated a dark blue sphere. It was easy… it was dangerous… it was frightening… yet… it brought her peace.

She sat up and looked at the full moon. So beautiful up there, surrounded by its many servitors in the sky. The stars keeping it company, never leaving its side. Her mind brought her to the photo of team 7 that… that she burned.

How she wanted to forget them! How she wanted to forget their existence, as they forgot hers. How she wanted to scream into the heavens, to release all her internal conflicts that were causing her pain.

But she was sure… she was sure that it was all for the best.

* * *

**I hope you all liked it!**


	9. Fight

**Hey peoples! I'm so sorry for the lateness! School just started and I'm psyching out cause I've got this really big exam that I have to take at the end of this semester and... yeah.**

**This one's very short, think of it as a Prologue to the Akatsuki Arc. Anyways, I've decided to have arcs 'cause arcs are awesome I just love it when they just go flying by! lol. FYI: The previous arc was named Training Arc (I know, lame name) Anyways, I absolutely adore the Akatsuki...  
But... I... I still can't believe that... that my Itachi is gone... ToT... I seriously bawled my eyes out when I saw the episode. Fuck Sasuke! Whyyy, Kishimoto-sensei? Why did you take them all away? Sasori... Deidara... Pein... and... and... my beloved _Itachi_! Take Sasuke instead! Take the fag! Take. the. fucking. FAG! **

**OKay... now that that's over with... here's the disclaimer before I forget... again...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... If I did, Itachi would not be dead... Nor Sasori... or Dei-Dei... Or Haku... -sigh- He killed out all the hot guys...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Fight

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before jumping up, moving her hands swiftly as she made the water from the river rise and wash over her poor opponents; balling her fists, the water hardened into its solid state, but she didn't have time to lose as another wave of enemies came, she ran a bare foot in a semi-circle in front of her in the dirt ground, immediately, pillars of earth came up, effectively stopping their attacks and with a strong imaginary push, the whole wall of earth slid forward and pushed them back.

Her ears pricked up at the sound of metal through air and channeled wind into her arm, releasing it with a slash of her arm, which stopped the incoming throw knives. Enemies to the right copied her earlier movements by raising the water and propelling it towards her, putting her hands together for a second, she put them in front of her as the wave hit, a fire shield in place that dissolved on the contact of water.

Mist rose because of the clash. She stood still; _I don't need to see with my eyes… to see what's going on around me… _she chanted a mantra to keep her from panicking too much. Her bare feet felt the vibrations; she knew where every single person was. Her heartbeat picked up when she suddenly couldn't feel anyone on the ground. She listened and heard them, the flowers growing near the river.

"_They flew!"  
"Up in the air!"  
"Above you!"  
"Up, up!"_

Their voices were faint, but still audible to her trained ears as she conjured a ball of light which she immediately threw up in the air. She grinned triumphantly when she heard their pained grunts and shouts from the immense light which blinded them. Now was her chance. Using the breeze, she jumped onto the flow, reaching her ear; she took off the regular-looking blue bud earring, squeezed it and threw it at the enemy. The earring got bigger until it was a metal bubble which caught five of her attackers, she made it herself.

The breeze began to slow and she dropped down soundlessly onto the ground. More came at her, which made her wonder how many of them there_ were_. Conjuring up a dark energy, she sent it around, filling the area with a dark haze. She got out of the said haze she just produced and listened to the horrible, frightened hurls of the enemies. Well, that's a normal reaction… after all, it wasn't everyday that you get to face your fears. The haze died down to reveal unconscious people, all with expressions of terror. She didn't stick to them long though, cuffed them and was about to go her way when she felt pity. She rolled her eyes at herself before sending a purple light to each of them. Instantly, their terror became peaceful expressions.

She sighed to herself, _I'm way too nice… it's going to be the end of me._

She ran through the world, helping her kin whenever and wherever she could. The men were already at the borders, controlling the amount of Void members from coming into their sacred land while the women were strewn about the place. Some were at the base of the trees to make sure none were able to get up and others, like her, were on the battle ground. A never ending war was upon them.

The pinkette looked around her. The Spring's usually bright flowers were withering and the trees rotting; the Winter's snow was melting, leaving a puddle of dirty mud water. The beautiful oasis that were strewn in Summer were nothing but sand now and the trees in Autumn were bare and looked like a scene from a graveyard without the graves.

She forced herself to look away from the scene and ran. She used chakra to quickly run up the tree of the Water Clan, the shield parted for her and she looked around. The only two places that were safe for the people were the Water and the Dream, everywhere else was already a battle field. She quickly made her way into the Water Mansion. The doors were opened for her and all the people inside turned their heads to her.

"Aaeru!" Lumiale exclaimed, quickly making his way towards the girl, checking for any injuries.

"I'm fine, Lumiale-sama," she assured, before they both went towards the middle of the room where a large table was, on top was a map of the land.

"They're not backing down this time," Sei-Lan noted, as did everybody else.

Sakura looked around the table.

10 years… it has been ten years since she came to this world. Ten years since she asked for help. And two of those years in war. The Void Clan had been regaining forces throughout the years, and two years ago, they attacked. Since then, battles have been going on and off, usually ending with the Void backing down then coming back in a few weeks.

For two years. Fortunately, her training ended at that time, but she never got to the Perfection stage for the war already started. Since then, she's been using her full power to help her people. She almost never thought about that other world anymore.

"Aaeru." The kunoichi looked up when her name was called. "Are you sure you want to continue?" Oscar asked her.

Without hesitation, she nodded. The Guardians glanced at each other, uneasy. Sakura caught the looks and demanded what was wrong.

"Something's wrong," she said. The thick silence only answered her question. _Something is _very _wrong._

"Aaeru…" Mel started, he almost looked… heartbroken. "We… think that, things are getting too dan-

"No! I will not run away! You've asked me this millions of times before! I will not!"

"Aaeru!" Julious's voice boomed above the rest, "This wasn't an easy decision for us. You still have a home to go back to." He reminded her. Images of Tsunade and Shizune, then Neji and Shikamaru came to her head.

But she shook her head vigorously, "I won't leave! It's my duty to protect this world!"

"Aaeru…" a soft voice called out. The girl looked up.

"Ange-hime," Sakura noticed for the first time that she was here. Who was she? Well, she was probably the one that all of the Guardians here present all respect and are loyal to. Her and only her.

Sakura had found out one day that most, if not all, of the Guardians were all love-struck with one girl. And that was Ange. They would risk their lives for her and her for them. She had the kindest, most honest and purest soul that Sakura had ever seen. From the moment she came to this world for a little visit, all the Guardians paid attention only to her. They showed so much care to the girl, that when Sakura pointed out who was smitten with Ange (in private and only the boys of course), some denied it, some just chuckled and some reddened.

Sakura had idolized her instantly, she was strong, beautiful and did she mention the kindest woman with a heart of gold that was honest and had the purest soul? Well, if she didn't, she did now.

Her beautiful brown hair in two braids and her ember eyes shined as she looked at the kunoichi. "Aaeru… listen to the Guardians."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, "N-Not you, too, Ange-hime! I can help!"

The older woman looked sad, "I know that, but… you _do_ have a home to go back to. What if they don't see you again? You made a promise to them… that you would go back," the gentle girl reasoned. The kunoichi was beginning to regret telling Ange about her whole Life Story. Sakura shook her head slowly; her eyes were brimmed with unshed tears. It was happening again.

_They're all going to abandon me… again. _

That was the thought of the lonely girl as she bolted out the doors.

"Aaeru!" the Guardians called out. Ange signaled them to wait and went after her, but not without the protection of our own Oscar, of course.

They found her near the Portal of Dimensions from which she first arrived some years ago. Oscar's horse stopped and Ange got off, going up onto the levitating stone. She put a comforting hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Aaeru…"

"Don't. I-I thought I could _finally_ be of use to someone. I thought I could finally be _needed_." She said, more calm than she was before, eerily calm even. "I guess I had assumed."

"No," Ange started, "No, your help has aided us throughout this battle… but… things are getting-

"Too dangerous, right? I'm a ninja for god's sake! I'm used to danger! You guys trained me yourselves!" She practically shouted, her body still facing away from Ange.

Sakura brushed her hand away and ran; Ange was about to call after her when there was an explosion where Sakura had left. She watched in horror as Sakura's body flew back. She quickly ran over to the fallen girl and kneeled down, immediately calling her Sacrea powers to heal the injured girl. Another explosion went off and Oscar came up.

"Ojou-san, it's getting too dangerous here, we have to go back!" Oscar yelled, fighting off a Void.

Ange looked torn between Oscar and Sakura. She shut her eyes tightly and whispered, "I'm sorry, Aaeru-chan…" She put her hands up over her own head, incanted a spell and stood up. Oscar came and scooped her up in his arms and onto the horse.

Ange looked sadly as Sakura's body started to disappear in twinkles of blue.

"Ojou-san?"  
"Let's go help the others, Oscar!"  
"Hai!"

* * *

**Please review on the next chapter if you don't review on this one!**


	10. Return

**This is one of my favorite chappies, seriously. And it's long!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... seriously... if I did, do ya really think I would've killed off all the sex gods? Pfff. As if.**

**Enjoy~!**

* * *

Chapter 9: Return

_Where am I?_

_What happened?_

Her mind was semi-conscious but her body wouldn't budge. It was like she was frozen in place.

"_Mou, Deidara-sempai!"  
"Shut up!"_

_Voices? I recognize that name… from somewhere._

She moved her arms and succeeded in sitting up.

"_Demo… demo…"  
"Stop your blabbering you moron, un!"  
"But… but!"_

_Who are they?_

She shakily stood up, her legs trembled but she was able to gain some balance. With a little wavering in her steps, she followed the voices, her feet slowly moving forward.

"_Deidara-sempaaaaai!"  
"Agh! What! What is it, un?"  
"A girl."  
"Eh? What, un?"_

Deidara was getting fed up with this kid. Sasori was still recovering so he was _still stuck_ with this annoying guy who kept on pestering him.

"What! What is it?" he finally shouted.

The man took a fearful step back before pointing energetically to the river they were following.

"Look! Over there! A girl!" he pointed while moving his arm up and down.

Deidara looked in the general direction and indeed saw someone coming this way. But… who in their right mind would venture so close to Akatsuki territory? They watched as the figure got closer and closer until she was a few yards away.

_Did that girl really have a death wish?_

They looked on as she swayed in her steps; she looked lost… and empty.

_Or was she already dead?_

She was wearing a black top with metal covering her chest area and small metal shoulder armor. The bottom was consisted of a mid-thigh length grey skirt; the sides were slit up to her hips and black leggings that ended just above her knees. Her long hair that reached mid-back had red oval hair clips in them, keeping the sides of her hair from blocking her view. Her attire was full of holes and rips and she had a severe burn on her left arm; her right leg had a deep wound; her head was bleeding, the blood leaving a trail from the side of her head ran across her left cheek and the small droplets of blood fell; she was scratched and bruised all over, barely able to walk even.

She stopped a few feet in front of them. The trio just stood there, the two Akatsuki members looking at the girl with astonishment while the girl looked at them with blank eyes. They stayed that way for a minute or so before they saw the girl's eyes roll back to the back of her head as she collapsed.

Deidara had, without thinking, caught her in his arms. He studied her face for moment in silence. Until the silence was unsurprisingly broken by Tobi who had shouted in shock.

"Aha! Tobi knew Tobi saw the girl somewhere!"

Deidara glared at him and asked where. Tobi put up a notebook and Deidara squinted to read it.

_Haruno Sakura of the Leaf village has been missing. If you have any information about her, please contact the Godaime Hokage immediately. _

Then there was a colored picture of a smiling girl with pastel pink hair and bright green eyes. He looked back to the mysterious woman and found that, she, too, had pink hair… and her eyes _were _green_… _an empty jade. He glanced back at the picture and saw the date.

"That missing search was two years ago! Where'd you find that anyway?"

"On a Suna-nin Tobi killed two years ago."

Deidara was annoyed, "Why did you keep it?"

Tobi seemed bashful all of a sudden; he fidgeted, "Because Tobi liked the pretty girl's picture."

Deidara almost fell down in shock but contained himself, "You moron. But, it's been two years. Konoha probably has stopped looking for her. But… I bet we could use this to our advantage. Let's go talk to Leader-sama about this."

Deidara positioned her more comfortably in his arms before breaking out in a sprint towards their secret base. Tobi paused for a bit, he looked at the ground. A pretty bracelet was there, according to Tobi, with a dark green little coin sac, probably the girl's.

"Tobi will give it back to the pretty lady! Tobi is a good boy!" he exclaimed, picking up the two objects before running to catch up with his sempai.

* * *

_At the same time in Konoha…_

_

* * *

_

The blond ran, jumped and –by god- even twirled from tree to tree, a huge grin plastered on his face and his bright blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "Stop jumping around like that, dobe," a cool voice enlaced in frustration growled out.

The said dobe looked back at the Uchiha and glared, "What'd you say teme?"

The said teme was about to retort back when their former sensei cut in, "That's enough you two. We're finally a team and you're still fighting, haven't you learned _anything_ from all this?" he sighed almost exasperatingly.

"Let them be," Yamato cut in, "it's been a rough, not to mention long, journey."

Kakashi sweat-dropped comically but nodded in agreement, "Two years passed by so fast…" he mumbled to himself but everyone caught it.

Sai grunted, "It may have been two years but," he turned to look at the two opposites who were about to start arguing again, "Dickless hasn't changed at all. The gay-emo as well."

The ones that the insults were destined to turned to him and gave him death glares. Naruto, hearing the comment, stopped ranting to Sasuke and turned to glare at the Uchiha- lookalike. "Why you-

"Come and say that to my face, bastard," Sasuke growled out lowly, but still with a stoic face. He had already stopped on one of the branches, hand at the ready on Kusanagi.

Sai was about to move when Yamato put his arm in front of the boy, "Now, now," he sighed, "Why don't we… just try to get along. We're almost there." He explained, seemingly very annoyed at the progress of things.

Indeed, they were in the forest that surrounded the glorious village of Konoha. Only about two or so miles before they would finally be at the gates. They were impatient of going back… _home_.

"I wonder how Sakura-chan is?" the blond asked, then a frown immediately appeared on his face, "I hope she'll forgive us…"

Kakashi caught up to Naruto and gave him a reassuring smiled underneath his mask, "We'll make it up to her; after all, she's a forgiving girl." (A/n: goes to show how much you know her Kakashi…)

"Yeah, I'm sure ugly will understand. This mission was too dangerous for her," Sai added.

"Sakura doesn't hold grudges. Well… not long, since she feels guilty after beating you up," Yamato put his two cents and mentally shuddered at what the pink-haired girl was going to do to them. Everyone else was thinking along the same lines, cringing at the many ways an experienced medic could do to you. I mean, they really can put you on the brink of death with all the pain included, but not enough to reach the sweet surrender of death.

"WE'RE HERE!" Naruto shouted, _at long last_.

"Hn," Sasuke still couldn't believe that he accepted on coming back. I mean, all he did was kill Orochimaru, and that wasn't even his goal. Itachi was still living his life, and that was currently his problem, that Itachi was still _living_.

He looked up at the intimidating gates, _'Konoha, for the past two years, has been the main portal for gossip and rumors from all over the nations so I am bound to hear something about him. Until then…' _He looked up as the gates opened up for them and as he stepped foot into the village that he left almost four years ago.

Naruto excitedly looked up and down, left and right, taking in the sight of his home. "Finally home!" he shouted, jumping into the air.

"Naruto?" the said boy looked at his side where the gate guards were looking at them, perplexed to see them all.

"Yo, Kotetsu, Izumo, been a while," Kakashi casually greeted.

"_A while_?" Kotetsu asked, "You call that a _while_? Then I would like to know your definition of a long time," he joked. Kakashi just let out a chuckle at the remark from his fellow Jounin.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't _Team 7_," came the low, almost threatening voice of their _beloved_ Hokage. The seven men respectfully bowed to the woman. Tsunade scanned all of them, "And who might you be?" she asked the two silent guys behind the group. Sasuke spoke for them.

"These are my teammates, Jugo and Suigetsu."

"Yeah, we have another member… _Buuut_... she –ahem- _tragically_… died," the one named Suigetsu said with an uncaring tone that dripped with mockery.

"I see…" the Hokage's voice was still eerily low and dangerous. At her side, was her ever-so-loyal apprentice, Shizune, who didn't look them in the eyes. She just tightened her hold on Tonton, who was trying to escape to try to bite those stinking bastards.

There was a pregnant silence over the little group, Izumo and Kotetsu just backed away slowly from the booth they were sitting in. The air temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees and that was their cue to leave.

"A-ah! H-Hokage-sama, it's our… um… our…" Izumo stumbled over his words.

"Lunch break!" His partner filled in quickly.

"Y-Yeah, lunch break… so…" It seemed like Izumo was loosing his vocabulary…

"We'd better get going," Kotetsu filled in.

"Have a good day, Hokage-sama." They both saluted before speed walking away from the soon-to-be blood bath.

The group who just arrived looked at them weirdly as they rushed away so quickly. "What's up with them?" Naruto mumbled but shook his head and grinned. "So, baa-chan!" Tsunade's eyebrow ticked at the name but kept silent, "What's up, where's Sakura-chan? At the hospital?"

Shizune finally looked up and was about to yell profanities when Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. Shizune backed down and returned to her mentor's side, anger hidden behind her dark orbs as she turned away from them indignantly.

"Ask the others," Tsunade finally answered, weary all of a sudden, "Just… just meet me at my office when you're finished." She ordered as she dragged a glaring Shizune away from them, fists clenching, trying to control her own rage. "If you make it out alive…" she mumbled when they were out of earshot.

"What… was that about?" Yamato inquired to the rest, the rest, whom just shrugged.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go! I'm hungry! Let's go to Ichiraku!" he yelled, earning some groans from his teammates but they followed him anyways.

The said 'others' were, (un)fortunately for Team 7, were also at Ichiraku's, they all came back from their missions and were having lunch together. They were situated at a big round table low on the floor where they sat on cushions. After these many years of selling the most delicious ramen in the land of Fire –or Konoha at least- they upgraded the small stall into a big restaurant. After they ordered, they began chatting amongst themselves.

The platinum blond sighed, "It's just not the same without Sakura…" she mumbled to the Hyuuga heiress who looked down at her lap.

"Yeah…" she whispered, looking at the empty space where their kind friend used to sit at. She was the one who brought them together in the first place. She was the one who set up a date almost every month where everyone would gather, talk about their latest experiences and gossip.

After hearing Ino's comment, the other's gazes also went over to the empty spot and the empty bowl sitting there. Even if she wasn't here, they always reserved an empty space, hoping that their friend, would somehow, spontaneously, appear from behind the wooden doors with that caring smile of hers. That she would come in and apologize for 'being late' then she would come and sit at the spot they reserved just for her. Who are 'they'? You could say it was the people she came to bond with.

There was Ino, they became friends again after Sasuke left, gossiping about pointless girly things to take their minds off of duty.  
Hinata, who Sakura encouraged to fend for herself and finally go ask her new crush out –who was a Suna-nin that she met when she had accompanied Sakura on her visit to the said village- and, thanks to her, they were a happy couple.  
TenTen, her spar buddy, who became like her surrogate sister and helped her with her… Lee-ttle problem.  
Neji and Shikamaru, of course, who became her pillars of support on missions as well as off and eventually became the two people she trusted the most.  
Kiba had developed a small crush on the girl after a certain mission where she took take of him and Akamaru, as well.  
As mentioned before, she had helped Lee get over her and move on to his real object of desire: Tenten.  
Chouji was her cooking buddy' and often, they would make new recipes together and forced his girlfriend, Ino of course, to try them out, lying that it was 'low-fat'.  
Shino had been grateful when she was there to help him when he experienced his first 'crush' with a particularly emotional civilian girl.  
And of course, on those rare occasions when the Suna Siblings were here, they invited them to join, which was the case on this day. Sakura had always invited them when they were here, so they would continue it as well, for her.

They were worried about the Cherry Blossom of Konoha and couldn't care less about Team 7. They were the ones who drove her away, her so-called _team_. They usually evaded that certain topic, it made most… no scratch that, _all_ of them boil with rage.

So, when the so called 'Taboo-Topic' just walked through the door… they couldn't help but stare and gape with shocked, surprised and hateful expressions on their faces. None able to move, for they knew… they just _knew_… that _blood, their _blood, _Team 7_'s blood would be_ spilled_ if _anyone_. Dared. To. Move.

* * *

Deidara, as soon as he arrived, went to the Leader's office. Unable to knock, he forced Tobi to come with him. The door opened quite eerily as they entered the dark room.

"Yes?" Pein's voice called out from the darkness before he appeared from one of the corners of the small room. His ringed eyes immediately went to the unconscious girl in the artist's arms. "Who… is that?" he inquired, if he was shocked that two of his members would just bring some _girl_ to their _secret_ base, he didn't show it.

"Leader-sama, we found Haruno Sakura on our way back, un. She seems to have lost consciousness, un." Deidara explained.

Their leader's eyebrow rose unwillingly, "Haruno Sakura? The Hokage's missing apprentice?" he asked, his voice enlaced with a small amount of surprise.

Tobi nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, sir! Tobi recognized the pretty lady with pink hair! Tobi is a good boy!" he said proudly, like when a toddler was able to 'go potty' by himself for the first time.

"I see… did she say anything before she lost consciousness?"

"No, un. She just… walked towards us, kind of looking lost and just… collapsed. She has a few injuries, probably from a previous battle, un… but… on our way here… we didn't hear any battles, her wounds are fresh and I doubt she could've walked any further, un."

"So you mean to say, that she just 'appeared' like that?" Pein asked.

Deidara was hesitating in his answer, "Could have been a teleportation jutsu," he logically thought.

"Indeed," Pein's voice was pensive. He could use this to his advantage, yes. Having the Hokage's apprentice, who has been missing for the past two years, even from their radars, has got to be someone worth their interest. After hearing about the missing kunoichi, he had sent out a few of his members on her trail, but, mysteriously, that trail disappeared along Yukigakure. And now, she suddenly just reappears just as she disappeared two years later? Yes… that had mystery enlaced all around it… and he was going to find her secret.

"Put her into a spare room, and then go fetch Uji-san," he ordered. The partners bowed respectfully and headed out. Pein smirked as an idea came to him. He thought of putting a ransom in for her… and by ransom, it would mean the Jinchuuriki, but… maybe… maybe, he could exploit it a little bit more than that.

He enlaced his fingers together and put his chin on the bridge they made, maybe she could become an Akatsuki and help us obtain him… thus, having two of the most valuable people of Konohagakure in their hands. _Yes…_

* * *

The Konoha and Suna nins were frozen in place but their eyes followed those… those bastards' every movement as they greeted the old Teuchi.

"Ha, ha! Old man, this is paradise!" Naruto exclaimed joyfully as he looked around.

Teuchi grinned from ear to ear as he bellowed, "Well, it was about time! You've been gone a while again, haven't you? Your first order's on the house!"

Naruto copied his expression, "Thanks, old man!"

Teuchi then remembered, "Your friends are in there as well."

At the mention of that, the blond's eyes shone and he quickly made his way past the bamboo shutters that were hiding the view of the rest of the restaurant. Within a few seconds of looking around, his eyes came to the Konoha and Suna-nins' large table where they were chatting away. He looked back and grinned at the rest of Team 7, ushering them inside.

They approached the said table, and they were sure that, at this distance, they would have noticed by now, but… they just kept on talking…

"You been to the new hair salon? I heard it has the latest styles!" Ino practically squealed. _What the heck are they doing here?_  
Hinata giggled, "Not yet, I was planning on going there this weekend though!" _Naruto… I can't believe you did that to Sakura-chan…_  
"Can I come with?" Tenten butted in. _Those bastard will pay…_  
"Me too!" Temari joined in. _Just wait until I get my hands on you Uchiha…_

And the girls started to make a plan on what time and such. Their voices were giddy and excited but their thoughts were far from it.

"Ah, Gaara-san! How is your youthful village doing?" Lee (who else?) asked the stoic Kazekage to his left. _The youthful Sakura-san has been injured by their faults; I will make them youthfully pay!_  
"Fine, thank you," was the redhead's reply. _You guys don't know _how far_ you went this time… not even, you, Naruto, could stop me from killing that traitor.  
_"There have been parasite outbreaks in Suna, have there not?" Shino asked. _You have made terrible foes Team 7…  
_"Ah! I heard grilled locusts are specialties in the Wind country!" Chouji exclaimed, his stomach rumbling. _Oh… you guys are gonna get it for taking away my only cooking buddy! She… she makes the finest cupcakes I have ever had in my life!  
_"Ew… do you really think it's appropriate to talk about… grilled locusts?" Kiba asked with slight disgust, Akamaru barking in agreement. _Team 7… be ready for a world of pain…  
_"Actually," Kankuro started, "It's better when it's deep fried, more crunch to it." Then he laughed when the Inuzuka turned green. _You guys have no idea that you just practically signed your own Death contract, right?_

The boys were encased in an interesting topic about locusts… how nice.

Neji scoffed, "You finish the paperwork I gave you to do?"  
"It was troublesome…" Shikamaru took a drag from his cigarette and glanced at the very confused Team 7.

"Hey guys!" Naruto chirped, waving a hand in the air.

Ladies and gentlemen… that was their cue… the chattering stopped completely, each shinobi looking straight ahead of them. Dead silent. The air became tense and the temperature dropped a few degrees, making most of the remaining civilian clients, and even some shinobi ones leave, throwing the needed amount of money on the table and scurried out of there.

Sasuke and Naruto just looked at their comrades with confused looks, the latter being more vocal about it, "Hey! Guys! He-llo!"

Still… no one moved. No one breathed.

The kyuubi container, having enough of the cold shoulder treatment, looked around, eyeing the empty spot in between Neji and Shikamaru. He strolled down to it and placed himself on the cushion, and, simultaneously with an eerie synchronization, all the heads whipped towards him. Naruto involuntarily gulped at the hate-filled, dirty and disappointed looks they were all giving him.

"Get. out. of. that. seat." The words were like steel, coming from Shikamaru, to Team 7's utter shock. His partner gripped the cushion and pulled it away swiftly, making the blond fall back and grunt in pain as his head hit the tatami mat.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?" he yelled at the Hyuuga prodigy.

"That seat's already reserved so haul your ass off of it!" surprisingly, once again, these words came from the Hyuuga Heiress, her opal eyes ablaze as she eyed her former-crush.

Naruto was about to retort when Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head, telling him silently that now wasn't the time. Naruto grumbled as he stood up, rubbing his butt. Then something clicked.

"Ah! This seat's for Sakura-chan!" At that, once again, glares were directed at him. And, that was the last straw for the Suna girl. She stood up and marched around the table towards him. When she got there, she stood right in front of him, and, without any warning, she fisted his collar, bringing him up.

"You have _no fucking right_ to call her that," she growled out lowly, "You have no right to even _say_ her name." Her grip loosened when her younger brother's hand went to her shoulder. She gave him dirty looks before completely letting him go, stepping back.

Gaara looked back at the table, "I believe we all finished." It was more of a statement that anything. The others nodded in agreement and stood up placing their share of the bill on the table and began to file out without another word.

In the end, Tem 7 could do nothing but stand there as their _friends_… left them. It pained Naruto the most.

"W-Why?" he asked his other best friend.

Gaara narrowed his eyes but said nothing. The only ones left were Neji, Shikamaru, Lee and Tenten. Tenten suddenly slammed her hands on the table while standing up, going towards them.

"Tenten…" her boyfriend warned.

The said girl was livid as she made her way towards them, and, with the speed of a weapon's mistress, she had effectively slapped each of them hard enough to leave a bruise. She moved her index finger starting from Naruto, Sai, Yamato, Kakashi and finally ending at Sasuke while saying, "This is only the beginning… you… you guys have _no_ idea… no idea!" She was about to say more when her boyfriend embraced her from behind before leading her out.

Neji and Gaara glanced at each other and parted as well. Leaving the lazy Shadow-nin there, taking drags from his almost finished cigarette. He took one last long one before throwing the remainder in the ashtray. He stood up, slouching a bit as he made to follow the others.

Naruto grabbed his arm, "Shikamaru… wh… what's wrong with them? We're back… aren't we?" he asked, almost pleadingly.

The Nara sighed, "You may have… yes… but you don't know what the consequences of your acts have done…" He took his arm back and went out the door, but not before whispering loud enough for Kakashi to hear, "And here I thought that you guys were taught never to leave your comrades behind… I guess it doesn't matter to the _Legendary Team 7_."

Kakashi's eyes widened and replayed the shinobi's words as well as the others. It finally clicked, "We have to go to the Hokage's… right now." he said urgently, they all looked at him but followed his lead as they poofed out, appearing at the Hokage's office.

* * *

Deidara had settled her in a vacant room with nothing but a bed, a small table and a closet. He put her on the bed, grimacing at the blood that stained the white sheets at once.

"How could she not be dead by now?" he asked more to himself.

Tobi got a light blanket out from the closet and put it over the kunoichi. His mind working, _I wonder if I should tell brother about this? _"Deidara-sempai, Tobi's hungry!" he wailed.

A vein popped on his forehead, "Then go get something to eat! Don't complain to me! I'm not your freaking babysitter, un!" Tobi whimpered like a kicked puppy and made his way out, muttering about "meanie sempais" and "just a sandwich".

The door opened and Itachi silently came in, followed by a short old man. His gray hair only covered the sides of his head, leaving a bald spot on top. He was about half of Itachi's size, walking with a wooden cane. Konan came right behind him, holding a medical kit in her hands.

Deidara glared at the old man when he began poking him with the stick, non-verbally telling him to move aside. Uji-san has been the Akatsuki's doctor for a few years, not having been able to find any other medic, he lived in the nearby civilian village near Rain country, which usually got rogue-nin or just nins on missions passing by, looking for a place to rest.

He scanned the girl, having thrown the blanket away. "Well, it's nothing we can't fix without chakra… except the burn. Konan-dear, just clean her wounds, put on some disinfectant and wrap 'em up nicely. As for the burn, just clean it gently. I suggest some leeches, they eat the dead skin pretty well, just stick 'em on there and it'll be fine, she'll have baby soft skin when those suckers are done!" he stated amusedly.

Konan smile respectfully, "Thank you Uji-san, you've been a great help."

The old man just shrugged, "I'm sorry I can't use chakra to heal the little lady, and my wife is… well, let's not talk about that witch!" he said non-comically and made his way to the door.

"I will accompany you back," the ever so polite Itachi said, following behind him.

The blue-haired woman approached the unconscious girl and was about to snip the remainder of her clothes off when Konan raised an eyebrow at Deidara who was still standing there. Deidara's eyes widened for a second before he got the signal and scurried out the door. Konan rolled her eyes and sighed before going to work.

With scissors in hand, she snipped at the ruined clothes, making a mental note to get her some more later. She just threw the scraps on the floor and began cleaning her body with a wet sponge. She grimaced when she noticed blood seeping through the white bindings, deciding that it would be safer to look, she also snipped it away. Her frown deepened when she saw an inch deep cut above the girl's right breast and, with the little medical jutsu she learned from Uji-san's wife, began to slowly heal it.

After a few minutes, only a scar was left. Sponging the area, she wiped away some skin powder from her chest, right below and in between her collar bone. It was a scar from what looked like a nasty wound. It was the size of her palm, which was pretty big, since scars usually are smaller than the original wound. It was shaped like a 16-point compass rose, which, ironically, looked like a flower on her pale skin.

Deciding that it would be too much of a hassle to clean with the sponge, she picked the almost naked girl up and walked over to the bathroom where she put her into the bathtub, running the faucet. When it was full, Konan began to clean her. She felt a sort of… protectiveness for the girl. The girl who, like her, had abnormally colored hair… and also already had scars of the past haunting her. She absent-mindedly brushed her own waist where a large scar marred her skin from when she was little.

After the kunoichi was fully bathed, Konan gaped at the numerous scars on her body that were hidden by powder the same color as her skin. This girl had been through a lot… and that only heightened the sense of defensive emotion she held towards the petite girl. She carefully bandaged the wounds after she put her back onto the bed, throwing a light cover over her body, making sure to leave the burned thigh alone and made her out to find some clothes and some… leeches. Yeah…. She was gonna get one of the boys to do that for her.

* * *

When Team 7 got to the Hokage's office, the busty blond was taking swigs from her sake bottle. She sighed in annoyance when she saw them, slamming the bottle down and wiping her mouth quite rudely in front of them, not caring what they thought about it.

"Team 7… you are charged with leaving the village without permission," she started but was rudely interrupted.

"The council gave us the permission," Sai informed, receiving a glare from the Godaime.

"Yes, I am quite aware of that. But, as shinobi serving under Konoha, you also needed _my_ approval!" she hissed at them. "You will be on one year probation till further notice." She informed, writing down the paperwork.

"What? But… but… Tsunade-baa-chaaaaan! Why? It's not fair!" The Jinchuuriki wailed.

"Yes, you're right, it's not fair. It should be even more than that! But…" she chuckled darkly, "You will be punished enough… soon." And… as soon as those words came out of her mouth, their… 'friends' all appeared, put chakra seals on all of them before teleporting to an arena, the Godaime following close behind, taking her sake bottle with her.

It was the same arena that the last part of chunnin exams they participated in some years ago was held. The arena was closed off so there was not a soul until they all appeared, throwing the five onto the dirt ground.

Tsunade yelled from the Hokage's spot, "Team 7… this is the second part of your punishment… these people here… have been wanting… _revenge_." She fixed the Uchiha when she said the last word. "Ladies and gentlemen… just make sure that you leave the on the brink of death, not dead." She ordered and with that, she left to get some more sake.

She passed her apprentice on the way who was amused when screams of agony were heard or large explosions. "Oh, Shizune, remember to bring them to the hospital when the others are done." She reminded before going off.

* * *

A few… _very_ painful hours later…

* * *

(A/n: Ok… so, like, I really don't know how to write a fighting scene with sooo many people, so just let your imagination take you away and bask in the contentedness of the ones who beat them up! xD)

Tsunade barged into the room containing the team and sighed contentedly, "Looks like they really took me word for word…" she mumbled, looking at the body casts on them all.

"Tsunade-baa-chaan, why can't someone heal us? Even better, why can't Sakura-chan heal us! We haven't seen her yet!" he wailed, but winced when he moved.

Tsunade grinned sadistically at them, "Since you're so _keen_ on calling me a grandma… I thought I could, for once, act like it and do it the old-school way. No one will be allowed, though I doubt anyone in this hospital _would_, heal you."

A collective glare was thrown at the blond and he cowered, glad that they were tied up as much as he was. But, anyways, now that they thought about it, the usually kind nurses were very… aggressive in bandaging them, pulling the bandages too hard or 'accidentally' hitting –jabbing would be the more accurate term- a wound or a broken bone. Naruto grumbled under his breath about "evil grandmas" and "stupid sake".

The said 'baa-chan' glared and was about to speak up when Kakashi's voice spoke up. "Hokage-sama… may I inquire as to where Sakura is?" At this question, four and a half pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly.

Sorrow flashed through her eyes before anger seeped in, a scowl on her face as she growled, "Well, _I_ certainly wouldn't know! Because… you see… she left," Tsunade said with a sickeningly sweet smile, the faces of the boys fell at once, "Yes, you heard me: _left_."

"What? And you're not even looking for her?" Naruto yelled.

"She couldn't have gone, too far," for the first time, Sasuke spoke up.

Tsunade glared at both of them, oh if looks could kill… "Don't you think we've tried that? And, for your information, she left the day after you guys _abandoned_ her." They all flinched at the word. Ignoring them, she continued, "We lost her trail a few weeks after she left Suna."

"Th-That means… she's been missing for over two years." Naruto gasped, thank you Captain Obvious.

Tsunade grunted, "I hope you're all proud of yourselves. You've just driven away the one person who… the one person who truly believed in you." She mumbled the last parts to herself.

Naruto's face was contorted in pain, but it wasn't from his physical injuries. He couldn't even look Tsunade in the eyes anymore. He was ashamed of himself. The face of his long-time crush appeared in his head, but it was one where she was crying all by herself in her room. It broke his heart and willed the image away… it wasn't fair. Just as they had gotten the last member of Team 7 back, another one had to leave; couldn't they ever be reunited as a team? But… it was their entire fault… their fault that this happened. He clenched his fist; he knew they should've brought her along. They could've protected her like always!

Kakashi was angry with himself. Hell, he knew how talented the girl was… but… he still saw her as the only girl in Team 7. She didn't have an endless amount of chakra like Naruto, nor had a bloodline like Sasuke. She was a Chunnin, even Naruto had already gained Jounin before they left. Yamato and Sai were already Anbu and let's not talk about the fact that he himself has already been in Anbu. She was just… too fragile for this mission. It _had_ dawned on him before they left that this was going to have a lot of consequences… he just never imagined _how many_.

Yamato had stayed silent through it all. He hadn't known Sakura for that much, but it still hurt him that she didn't wait for them. She was part of the team… a fact that they didn't grasp two years ago. Sure they made it alive without her for two years, but it could have gone better than that if they had a medic at their side. Maybe it wouldn't have taken that much time with her… but… the logic in leaving her behind also had seemed _right_. Compared to them all… actually, most of the shinobi in the leaf village were still inferior to them, so the little Sakura?

Sai was inquiring himself on the progress of the events. Why did Ugly leave? Wasn't she happy in Konoha? Wasn't it her home? She should have known that they would come back to her, like they always do. _Why should this mission be any different?_ That was what he was telling himself the night they left. She was always going to be there for them and them for her. She should have known that. So why? Did it hurt her that much that they left? She would've just gotten hurt on the way. And that was the last thing he –or anyone else on the team, actually- wanted. And surely she knew that they were only trying to protect her. Didn't she?

Sasuke didn't know what to think or what to say in this situation. Sure, he was worried about her. But… surely she would've understood them. _He_ certainly understood his team members. It was the same reason why he didn't take her with him when he left Konoha. He just wanted to protect her from harm's way. The world was cruel. He was the proof; fate took away what was most precious to him: his mother… his family… even the brother he used to see as a god. They all got ripped away from him when he was only a kid. He couldn't bear it if anything happened to her. He berated her for leaving. She was safe here, so why did she have to get all interesting at the worst moment and just leave like that? He didn't/couldn't understand it.

Tsunade shook her head in disappointment, especially at Kakashi who was always about the "the ones who don't follow orders are trash but the ones who leave their comrades behind are even worse than trash"… well, I guess they were even lower than that. She left them to wallow in their grief and guilt.

They brought this onto themselves.

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**So there you go! Akatsuki got Sakura and Team 7's been beaten up accordingly! Yay! Please, please, please, review! I have more alerts then reviews and it's not motivating me the least! So please... please... review.**


	11. Realization

**I'm sorry for the lateness once again! I've been having test every week for the past month so... anyways, I'm finally on a well deserved two-week break so this is the update ofr this week and (hopefully) next week there will also be an update!**

**Please review! That would make me, really, really, happy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, never had and never will 'cause now it's just a manga that everyone's waiting for the END. Do you hear that Masashi Kishimoto (aka: sex-god killer) just end it already!**

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Chapter 10: Realization

Pein came into the room where Sakura was being held after she clothed in one of Sasori's scarlet shirts which was very big around her smaller-than-average frame and a pair of Deidara's boxers. Her waist-length hair was creating pink wings behind her where it was splayed out. Her chest was heaving up and down slowly, her lips slightly parted and he couldn't help but become mesmerized before regaining his senses.

Konan came in a while later, a jar of… leeches in her hand. She greeted him and made her way towards the burn. Her fingers twitched after she opened the lid, hesitating in plunging her hand in it. After a minute, Pein decided to take things into his own hands… literally. He picked one up and placed it on her burn and continued that method until there were at least five.

Konan turned away in disgust while an amused smirk appeared on Pein's face, "I think… I'm gonna retire for the day." Pein nodded as he dismissed her.

The leader pulled up a chair and sat himself down. He put his elbow on the arm of the chair and supported his hed on his hand, his ringed eyes still locked on her figure.

"What's your secret, Haruno Sakura?" he asked the unconscious girl.

* * *

Three days later… (September)

* * *

It was Itachi's turn to guard the girl and he was standing against a corner of the room, his midnight blue eyes shifting every few minutes, out of the Sharingan's strain on his retina. He noted that her chakra level, even after three days of full rest, was still abnormally low. He couldn't say he was worried, but was more curious as to why that was. Having spent the whole day watching her, he made some hypothesis as to her spontaneous disappearance.

She could have given up being a shinobi and carried a civilian title in some little village. That could have been probable. Being a ninja, she could easily modify her appearance. How she got here, maybe someone might have recognized through her disguise, forcing her to flee. Then again, she could have taken a different identification but still as a shinobi. In the time span she disappeared, there were a lot of unidentified rogue-nin appearing from nowhere. She could have been one of them but in this last battle, she wasn't good enough, forcing her to flee. And of course, just to be safe, there was the spy theory: Konoha could have planned this all along. They very well could have pretended that she became a missing-nin, leading them to a secluded place where she would "disappear", thought to be dead. Then of course, they would send her out as a spy to the Akatsuki after some time.

The Uchiha began to elaborate on his thoughts. The first one was the most plausible and probable though. Even as a rogue-nin, a shinobi's ways can't really be modified like their appearances. So, if she was still on the roster, there should have been some kind of information leaking about a girl with inhuman strength, which was her only offense, or even a medic-nin amongst them. But no such information came.

He was awoken from his musings when a pained groan filled the room. That alerted him; for it was the first time there had been a sign of her consciousness these past three days. He stayed immobile and silent though. It could have been just a reflex of the body. There was a few minutes of silence, when, suddenly, her body jerked up like a bullet into a sitting position as if she had been reanimated with electric shocks.

Itachi waited for movement but there was none. The girl was just sitting up in her bed, head bowed down and shoulders slumped. Then, as impulsive as her waking, her chakra began to spike like little waves, but there seemed to be a blockage. He activated his Sharingan, ignoring the stab of pain through his head and found the source.

For some reason, there was a seal on her chakra, not a very powerful one, but a seal nonetheless. It was located on her back, directly above her main chakra coils. Her chakra was somehow being a rebel and was pushing against the said seal, trying to break free. The seal looked very old, as well, as if it was used for a while, much longer than two years, as far a decade even. But… how was that possible?

Loud footsteps echoed out in the hallway. Everyone probably felt the waves and was now heading towards the room. The first one to arrive, of course, was Pein, followed by Konan and soon, almost everyone came in save for Kakuzu, Hidan, Kisame and Zetsu who were too big to fit in the small room.

Usually, there wouldn't be this much ruckus about some weak chakra spikes, but it was not the power that interested them, it was the chakra itself. It was… different. There was something else enlaced inside the chakra that they had never felt before.

Everyone was silent as they still felt the strain on the seal as it began to break. Soon enough, a large chakra wave filled the room; it wasn't like anything they knew. It was at the same time, so hot that it burned but so cold that it stung their skin like blisters. Before long, it stopped and her chakra levels came to be stable. She was still in the same position.

Her head slowly moved up so they could now see her better. Most of her hair was over her face that was still pale, but not as pale as when they first found her. Her eyes, Deidara remarked, were still as empty and jade as when he first saw them as well.

* * *

One week later… (September)

* * *

"She's creepy, un," the blond Akatsuki member whispered to the blue man beside him. They were currently in the Akatsuki's living room. It had some couches placed in a square, a wooden coffee table in the middle. On the back wall, there was a large bookshelf and other than that, there were floor lamps at each corner of the room. The whole floor was covered in a dirtied gray carpet.

The only occupants of the room were: Deidara and Kisame, who were sitting on a couch, Kisame with a bottle of sake in one hand and Deidara with an upside-down book and Itachi, who was on the only recliner, reading a book whose cover was too old to be able to read the title. And, the final occupant sat on the small colorful alignment of cushions on the floor, providing protection from the infected carpet. She was looking out the big, arched window that trailed all the way to the floor.

The said window was pushed back into the wall instead of being along it, so it left a little bit of room, almost like a box-like compartment that her cushions fit in and that she was lounging in, her back leaned against one side of the makeshift cubicle, it was wide enough to fit a loveseat, actually. Her knees were brought up to her chest, her large Akatsuki cloak around her body making her seem even smaller. She was staring out into the pouring rain, motionless.

Deidara spied her from his place on the couch, using the book as a "cover" for his peering eyes. Kisame just rolled his eyes at the blond's actions.

"What the fuck are you doing? If you like her so much, just confess!" the blue man exclaimed.

Deidara huffed, "As if I could like her! What the hell are you talking about, un! I think it's just creepy, un."

"What's creepy?" the shark-man asked, also looking at the lone girl who seemed very out of it.

Deidara glared suspiciously at her, "She's there _all day_! Ever since she could get out of her bed… that's been a week, she's been sitting there. She's there when we wake up and she's _still_ there when we go to sleep."

Kisame thought about it and glanced towards his partner; she reminded him a lot of the young Uchiha when he first came into the organization actually. The Uchiha was always, and still was, self-reserved, believe him, nothing could break into that hard shell of his. Anyways, when he first came here, and Kisame could remember distinctly, he would always lock himself up into his room, not coming out unless it was for something to eat or a mission.

The only movement that was heard in the next few minutes was the one of Itachi getting up, putting the book back on the shelf and disappearing to god knows where. It was back to quietness once more. A mere ten minutes later, Itachi came in with, not one, but two large cups of coffee, well, hey, maybe he was a caffeine-addict. He put one of the cups safely in a corner of the recliner and to the room's surprise: he went towards the pinkette. He loomed over her, creating a shadow. The girl looked up with her blank eyes.

Itachi just looked at those eyes for a while, wondering why she was not scared of looking him straight in his. But… he admitted to himself, that it felt… nice, to have someone look into your eyes without that trace of fear. He handed her one of the warm mugs. It _was_ cold in the base. They were located in one of the small mountains behind rain country. She hesitatingly put her hand up, Itachi saw that it wasn't the fear-like hesitation; it was more the curious kind.

With his free hand, he took the outstretched hand and wrapped it around the mug. He saw her eyes soften at the warmth it probably gave her and retreated her hand with a small "Thank you", barely even audible. He just nodded in return and went back to his recliner, a new book -probably form his personal collection- in his hand.

Kisame was shocked at the usually stoic Uchiha's act but smirked knowingly. I guess he wasn't the only one who thought the two were alike; the Uchiha himself admits the sense of déjà vu through those unexpected motions.

_Maybe he isn't as emotionless as he appears to be… maybe… _he glanced at Itachi who stared back impassively, _Maybe he's capable of love? _The blue-man unwillingly shuddered at the thought, the mental picture of Itachi _flirting_ was very… _disturbing_.

* * *

Two weeks later… (October)

* * *

Everything was normal, except it was more noisy than usual. Hidan and Kakuzu had arrived very early in the morning from their mission and Sasori was back in business, his body fully recovered.

The latter was finally able to get out of that godforsaken bed of his. His new muscles sore from being motionless for quite a while. He was rolling his shoulders and walking through the living room when he spotted her.

_Twitch._

He rubbed his eyes to make sure that his human mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Damn, she was still there.

_Twitch._

Without thinking, he grabbed the next person who went past him. Unfortunately, the one who was passing by was Hidan. And it happened to be his hair that the puppet master caught and had pulled, earning a very irritated growl from the albino.

"The fuck do you think you're doing you son of a-

"Why is she here?" he interrupted him. Hidan turned to the girl, blinking for a moment at the hostile tone the red-head used when it finally hit him.

"_Oh, _I forgot that it was _that_ bitch who," he snickered, "_killed_ you. Jashin, how could I have forgotten that you got owned by a little girl with pink hair and a grandma!" with that he started cackling his head off.

_Twitch._

Sasori, unfortunately, hasn't got much control of his newly reprogrammed emotions and it got the better of him as he punched the immortal ass. The said immortal ass staggered back, holding his nose.

"Fuhck! I vas only shtating the truth!" he exclaimed as he rubbed his nose, his voice coming out weird.

Sasori was landing another punch, but this time, Hidan ducked, and instead, his fist connected to his partner's face.

"Wha the hell, un! Chachori-danna! That huwt!" he yelled angrily and raised his fist only to punch Tobi's mask. "Ow, what the heck!" he pulled his fist back as it started to sting.

"Mou, Deidara-senpai! Why did you hit Tobi!" the ecstatic man pouted as he brushed his precious mask.

"Ah! Tobi, you idiot!" Deidara yelled.

"Oh! Deidara-senpai didn't say 'un'! Did Tobi finally cure your speaking impairment?" he yelled happily, jumping up and down.

"Why I aughta!" he raised his fist up and was about to punch when Hidan –finally- recovered and stood up, only to get hit on the cheek by the blond. "Ah, shit! I was aiming for the kid, why'd you come up, un?"

"You blond haired bitch!" Hidan –who else- screamed as he lunged forward, hitting Deidara as they toppled over and began wrestling on the ground.

"Blondie!"  
"Religious assole!"  
"She-man!"

Deidara was about to retort when an unfamiliar noise rang throughout the room. Sasori froze and Tobi stopped trying to slink away as the two wrestlers stopped in their tracks. Itachi, Kakuzu and Pein, who were discussing about things money-wise and came into the room also stopped in their tracks. They looked over at the new Akatsuki member and they were taken away.

She was laughing.

Her face, for once, was lit up, her eyes closed, tears at the brims of her long lashes. Her mouth was open a bit, showing a row of bright teeth as some color regained her face. Her hair -if that was possible- became a bright pink instead of the dull washed out pastel it was before. There was only one thing going through their minds:

She looked beautiful.

Then, out of a sudden, she started to have a coughing fit. Right away, everyone present came up to her, asking her if everything was alright. She felt a hand lightly rub her back and someone close the other small window to the left to stop the draft from getting in.

Konan muttered things about the climate getting drafty this season and it was too cold to be living inside a damn mountain. Right then, Kakuzu made a mental note to buy and/or steal some heaters from Rain; it _was_ getting close to winter.

Sakura just peeked an eye at the well-intentioned group of people surrounding her and couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion in her heart.

* * *

That night…

* * *

I hung up my Akatsuki cloak in the wardrobe and closed it with a click. I looked at my reflection in the mirror bolted into on of the doors on it. I scanned my body from top to bottom. My rosy locks were in a very big and messy bun with senbon sticking out at random places. The Akatsuki outfit that Konan had made fit me perfectly. It was like a kimono style: it had long sleeves and like a kimono, folded over my chest, showing a bit of cleavage, but it was hidden away by a mesh shirt underneath. A black obi was tied around my waist and the bottom only came to mid-thigh with slits on the sides up to my hips for easier movement. But, of course, I had biker shorts that came right above my knees. Konan had also found me a pair of black high-heeled kunoichi boots that reminded my so much of my old home in this world.

I blinked… this world. It was a long time ago that I had switched my line of thoughts. Before, when I came to Simulacrum, my birth world, I called it: "this world" and Konoha was "my home".

"Back home, there were shifts as night guards to assure security, does this world also have night guards?" I had asked.

But then… a mere year later…

"My house in that world and my home here is completely different," I had told the little kids who were curious about the outer world.

Simulacrum became my home in such a short time, that I had not noticed the change, until my partner: Ren, had mentioned the fact that I had started to use the term "that world" for Konoha. For some reason… I cried that night.

I looked up at my reflection again. It crossed my arms over my chest so that the tips of my right hand reached my left shoulder and vice versa. This was the praying posture of my God: Tempus Spatium, literally, Time Space. In the shinobi world, one could not really believe in Gods, they could only believe that demons exist and the only real "gods" were the ones who could seal them away. You could say I believe in this god because it was something of matter. Time and Space exist as much as the demons. That's why I could indulge myself in the luxury of prayer for it.

Normal POV

In her short lifetime, up till now, she, evidently, had learned the importance of Time and Space. She would pray that Time would be on their side, that the Void Clan would come after her warriors recovered. She would pray that Space would not destroy them as it destroyed so many other planets. And for once… she could actually believe in something that would not… _abandon_ her.

She looked at the pearly white ring on her left pinky finger. Void, how ironic. It was a newly made replica of Orochimaru's Sky one. She wasn't stupid, far from it actually. Although, she must admit, she wasn't in her right mind when she first woke up here. But, in her subconscious, she knew that she was making a contract with an S-class criminal organization. But, at that time, she really didn't give a damn. Nor does she give a damn as of now as well.

That was the worse thing about it actually. She didn't feel guilty. No remorse about it.

She just didn't care.

That's why she cried.

That night, she cried.

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**Please review~**


	12. Caring

**Here's the 11th chapter! I have comment on this one excpet it's full of SasoSaku and PeinSaku fluff!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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**Chapter 11: Caring**

One week later… (October)

Itachi and Kisame went into the living room to be greeted with the still form of Deidara. The said bomb artist was standing in the middle of the room, back faced towards them.

"Oi! Deidara, what gives?" Kisame asked.

Deidara turned back to him, "She's not here," he said slowly, and was that concern in his voice?

The pair turned their attention to the window that had been dubbed 'Sakura's Sanctuary', simply for the fact that she was always there; it was where she would seem the most relaxed. When they had dinner and she would be there, her posture screamed the word: stiff. She shoulders straight up and her actions were jerky. But when sitting at that place, she would seem so… at peace, that you really couldn't find the heart to tell her to 'get off her ass and do something fucking productive', as quoted from Hidan before receiving a whack to the head by his partner, telling him to leave the girl alone.

They heard the light footsteps of a female.

_Oh, it's only Konan. _They simultaneously thought.

The said girl, as if hearing their thoughts smirked at the three, "What? Expecting Sakura-san?"

Silence.

She sighed, _'Silence means yes…' _she thought before answering their unspoken question, "She's sick." She looked at the tray of tea and a covered plate of food she was holding.

"What does she have?" was Itachi's automatic question.

"Oh, a cold packed with a fever. Her body's not used to the climate, as of yet, it seems. She probably lived in a softer climate before. Which, I doubt is Fire Country," she mumbled to herself. "Well, good day to you, gentlemen." She excused herself from them and made a beeline towards the pinkette's room.

When she was in another hallway, she smirked; _Seems like Sakura-chan's left a very big impression on the boys… _her thoughts led her to her dear cousin who was trying to lie to her that he didn't care about the pinkette, only saying she would benefit the group because she was a medic-nin under Tsunade. The blue-haired girl shook her head, _I know you better than that, Pein…_

She stopped walking when she saw a most peculiar sight. The revived puppet master was standing in front of Sakura's door, mentally debating if he should knock or not. Konan raised an eyebrow about that and was about to ask when her ring emitted a warm sensation on her finger. Pein was calling her.

"Leader-sama is looking for you," came the voice of Sasori who was now standing in front of her. She nodded, muttering an 'I know' then she sighed and looked back down at the tea. The red-head followed her gaze. "I will bring it to her." He offered, well, more like stated.

Konan looked up, uncertainty in her eyes. Sasori rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to poison it or anything. I don't hold grudges for long. I was merely surprised to see her here." He explained a little more than necessary but Konan relented and handed him the tray.

"Alright, tell her to eat two pills after lunch, though I think she already knows, just… take care of her… please. If you don't want to, just call Itachi to take over for you," she instructed him, reminding herself that the girl _is _a medic, she could take care of herself… but still. Sasori nodded and waited until she was out of sight out of politeness before entering the room with a soft knock, not to disturb her if she was sleeping now that he knew that she was ill.

He opened the door and peered in. A lump was protruding from the heavy blankets on the bed. He entered the room and looked around. Her bed was almost directly in front of the doorway, just a little to the side. It was bigger than the spare room she was in before, of course, as she was a fully fledged member of the Akatsuki now. A closet was to the left wall and next to it a bookshelf hanging a few feet off the floor with the few medical scrolls and textbooks they had. On the wall that had the doorway, to the right, was a wooden desk already set with stationary and ink. On the right wall was a doorway leading to a bathroom that she and Konan now shared, Konan's room being to her right and Tobi's to her left. And finally, there was a long table along the wall where the head of the bed was, it had a clay vase and fresh flowers in it. Next to it laid a stainless steel bowl filled with tap water, two small towels hanging off the edge.

He blinked, _where the hell did she get fresh flowers? _He asked himself, but let it pass as he put the tray next to it. He examined the lump on the bed; her whole body was covered in the thick blanket. He frowned; maybe she suffocated in there and died without their knowledge?

He didn't know why, but that thought stung at his beating heart. It was new to him. It's been quite a long time since he felt anything so don't blame him if he couldn't find the name of the emotion he was feeling.

He pulled back the covers a bit, somewhat relieved at hearing her soft, slow, but still there, breaths. Her cheeks were flushed; it made the perfect contrast actually: her cheeks and forehead were pink while her complexion was pale. She was sweating a lot, too. Well, I guess he had work to do. He pulled back the covers so it at least laid at her shoulder-level then put a cool hand towel on her forehead. He took the second one and started dabbing at the sweat that had accumulated on her neck.

At the touch of the fresh coldness, her eyes fluttered open, looking at him like he was looking at her, with a look that resembled boredom. The towel on her forehead was taken away for a minute to be strained, it seemed like there was too much water on it so some dribbled down her temple, onto the pillow. His hand absently brushed her temple to get the water drops off and Sakura vaguely noticed the warmth.

"How?" was her short question.  
"Leader-sama," was his short answer.  
"Oh," was her short reply.

Seeing that their "conversation" ended, he motioned over to the tray of food and that was her stomach's cue to growl. She tried to sit up, but with the cocoon she was currently encased in, she found it quite a challenge. Seeing her current predicament, he helped her sit up; putting an arm around her shoulders and the other pushed away the covers that were trapping her. After that was done, he placed the tray onto her lap, rearranging her pillow so it comforted her back against the wooden headboard.

Actually, he didn't know why he was so nice and caring with her all of a sudden. Hell, she _was_ the one who frigging gave him emotions that he didn't _want_ in the first place. But, he felt somewhat… gratified. It's as if he had woken up to a new light, and it wasn't just because Tobi had changed the white light bulb into a red one for… only god knows why.

He just idly watched her eat her food carefully, making sure not to spill anything on the blankets. He knew she was seemingly ignoring his presence altogether. He had asked Deidara how she got here and he retold him the story of how he and Tobi were on their way back when she just appeared in front of them, half dead.

He, too, like most of the members, wondered what happened to the pinkette. It seemed like even Pein had tried to talk to her about it, but then she would have this glaze over her eyes, as if she was thinking of a far away place, but he was going to ask her anyways. He knew that it was very… unnatural for him to wait for her to finish her lunch. He _was_ very well-known for his impatience. So it surprised him that felt no… irritancy in waiting and just watching her.

She, on other hand, really wondered why he didn't just leave her there and left to do something productive while she ate. She didn't mind the company but it really _was_ a surprise when he just pulled up the chair from her desk and sat on it, watching her with an intense gaze, as if he was trying to figure out a particularly hard puzzle. Which, might I add, might have been the case.

After she finished and had taken her medicine accordingly, she had felt tired once again with her stomach now full. But, unfortunately, just as she was about to return to her warm cocoon, he held up a thermometer near her face. She resisted the urge to sigh but complied, taking the thing into her mouth. When it beeped, she crossed her eyes to be able to see the numbers without avail.

"102 degrees," he answered for her with a small, almost invisible frown.

"It was 104 this morning..." she informed him.

"Haruno." She looked up at the call of her name, "How did you end up here?"

True to the rumors, her dull eyes came to life for a second before glazing over, like a cloud was just passing by, making her eyes seem… well cloudy.

"I…" but it seems as if she couldn't find the words. But in that single lettered word, he could hear pain and sorrow. He decided that it didn't fit her. Like most thought, since he surely wasn't the only one other than Pein who had asked her.

He had wondered why their leader didn't persist on the subject actually. The man was practically swimming in a pool of mysteries, diving down to the deepest abyss of a person's mind just to find one of those secrets, which, could or could not, affect the person. So the red head was mildly surprised that he had stopped pestering the girl after just one try. Maybe he had heard the same thing in her voice? He did admit that repeating her voice in his head saying that one word, something tugged on his beating heart. It was definitely a new feeling. A tug at the heart. It wasn't that pleasant though, he concluded.

Seeing that the mini interrogation was over, she had, once again, slipped into her shelter of white blankets. He watched her with some amusement as she covered herself with it all the way up to her chin. She turned onto her side and closed her eyes.

He had waited a few minutes before her breath steadied and slowed: the telltale sign of a sleeping person. He didn't know what possessed him but he went over and kissed her temple, his mouth moving near her ear.

"I want a rematch…" he whispered.

It seemed like she heard him for she groaned and buried her head further into the unusually soft pillows. He chuckled at her antics and made no sound as he left, closing the door with as little noise as he could manage. He leaned his forehead onto the wooden door, his hand not leaving the doorknob. He stayed in that position for quite a while, but he had to let go when the ecstatic Tobu bounced from around the corner, giddy as usual. It wasn't really a rare sight. The boy practically skipped into every room, so why couldn't he bounce at every corner?

"Sasori-senpai! What are doing in front of Sakura-chan's room?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. Sasori retained the growl that came up his throat at the affectionate and very intimate suffix he had called her. Not answering his question, he retaliated with one of his own.

"Haven't you ever heard of respect? I don't hear you call any other member so intimately," the puppet master drawled out.

The red head could practically see the grin under the mask, "That's because Sakura-chan and Tobi _are_ close!" the man exclaimed.

Sasori raised an eyebrow at that, "How so?" he couldn't help but ask as it just spilled out of his mouth.

The black-haired made a noise of contemplation then chirped happily, "Tobi was the one who saw her first! Tobi is a good boy; Tobi found the pretty lady and saved her from dying! So… that makes Tobi special to her!" he concluded with a proud pat to his own chest.

Sasori didn't know if he should be grateful that the idiot finally did something right or disappointed that it wasn't _him_ who had saved her life. He made a shield with his body in front of the door as Tobi had bounced over to him, probably ready to pay the young girl a visit.

"You will not wake her up. She needs rest," he ordered, which can be translated as: 'Enter and be ready for a world of pain; wake her and be ready for your death'. Tobi either ignored the threat or just didn't process it into his mind for he had slipped his way behind the door and was now tiptoeing towards the bed.

Sasori really… really wanted to kill the man. He turned back swiftly as he heard the chair move. His eye twitched at the scene. Tobi was caressing her pink locks and asking her if she needed anything. The still sleepy girl managed a quiet 'no'. The boy just nodded and stood up quietly, pulling the blankets up further and walking out quietly.

He turned to his senpai and giggled like a kid, "Shush, she's sleeping," he informed the red head while closing the door. He then, without further ado, began skipping away like he had never been there in the first place. It actually unnerved the ex-Suna-nin. He shook his head from side to side. This girl was making them do and feel things that are not… usual, per se.

_What the hell is she doing to us?_ He thought wryly.

The day after…

It was common knowledge to the Akatsuki that Pein, the said leader of the group, whenever he was off mission, would likely be in two places: one, evidently, was his office and two, the basement, where their library was. Right now, he was looking through the collection, trying to find a book about his current dilemma. As he was doing this, he heard the door to the basement creak open slowly.

He wondered who that could be. There were only two regular visitors here and that was Itachi and himself, and on occasions Konan when she was asked to do research. He looked up suddenly when he heard very light footsteps on the other side of the bookshelf he was currently browsing. Curious, he made his over.

What he found there astounded him: his current dilemma in person. There she was, plopped down tiredly on the red beanie bag chair that Tobi had purchased at a yard sale from somewhere. How he got that thing back to the base unnoticed is still a mystery.

He frowned deeply when he saw that she was breathing rather unstably. She had also dragged a light but still comfortable blanket with her, wrapped around her small shoulders. She was only wearing a light blue t-shirt only a size bigger, probably from Konan and a pair of black boxers that ended just above her knees. Curled up to the shape-taking beanie bag chair, her face still flushed, he wondered why she was here, of all places.

He made his way to her and lightly shook her. "Sakura… Sakura…" her eyes unwillingly opened as she heard the voice, still sleep-depraved and exhausted. She weakly pulled her head up, "What are you doing down here?" he asked her softly, crouching down to her level.

Her eyes scanned her whereabouts for a few seconds before she opened her mouth to respond to him, "Deidara and Tobi are 'playing' 'Bomb the Target on Tobi' again. Kisame and Hidan are having a cuss-out match while screaming and I couldn't find anywhere else where it was quiet," she answered him, her voice a little raspy.

Pein fumed at that. Did they no courteousness at all? Konan had informed them that she wasn't feeling well and yet they make so much noise that she isn't able to rest, adding to the fact that she had to get up from her bed and walk around, which isn't helping her health, just to find a place to sleep in peace and quiet. They were going to be punished for this.

He looked back at her but she was already sleeping. "Come on," he absently whispered as he picked her up bridal style before heading out of the basement and up the stairs to his private floor. He grunted in annoyance as he could hear the ruckus made by the four men on the first floor and, thankfully, no noise attained the second.

He opened the door to his room and laid her down on his bed. "At least you'll be at peace here," he muttered to the unconscious girl. She looked so fragile from here. Ever since she came here though, all she has been doing was sitting around. The place she came from must have scarred her a lot. He had heard the various rumors about the girl before, that she had a very short temper and was easily angered, just like her teacher. So it was strange that she would be this… docile.

It didn't fit her though. Seeing her right now, no one would believe that she could bring down a small mountain. That, on the other hand, wasn't a rumor. In fact, one of his members was on a mission, feeling the chakra of Konoha shinobi, he steered away from it having come from his own tiring mission and was slightly shocked when a small mountain in the horizon just crumbled down. He had checked it out only to find a pink-haired girl having buried her opponents under the rubble. The least Zetsu could say was that he was mildly astounded by the raw force she possessed.

She was lying quite comfortably, probably not even noticing that he moved her as his satin sheets contoured her body as she dug more comfortably in it. She was quite a cute sight, actually. He would have kept her in Konan's room but he just appointed her a mission and all of the Akatsuki kept their doors at least locked with a key. Those who were a little more paranoid or just liked their privacy also had numerous seals on it.

He sighed as he made his way back downstairs to reprimand the boys who were still making quite a commotion. With only one word, he had gotten Deidara to stop throwing his clay bombs at the frightened Tobi who was being used as a live target and Kisame and Hidan stopped mid-chug of the sake bottles in their hands.

He glared at them, "Just where do you think you are?" he asked calmly but it was dripping with irritation. He turned to Deidara and Tobi, "There are training grounds for target practice." Then to the sober pair, "If you are going to get drunk, do it outside this base." He glowered at them, "Because of you, one of our members who _should_ have been resting has been going around blindly, while sick, around the base, trying to find a quiet place to rest."

They, of course, immediately knew who it was, word had, of course, gotten out that the pink-haired girl was ill. They, finally, seemed to notice where they were. They were in the hallway where their rooms were. Where Sakura's room was. Where she was resting. They all stood there, quiet for some moments. Pein resisted the urge to shake his head in disappointment at his subordinates.

He was ready to bet that as soon as Sakura was back in her room, Tobi would run in and apologize. So it'd be best if he kept her away from them for the time that she recovers.

Konan was coming back from her little errand and headed directly upstairs to the second floor. Pein would always be in his office at this time. She knocked and entered but was curious that he was nowhere in sight. She called out his name but there was no response. She suddenly heard a groan from his room. With a raised eyebrow and her curiosity at its peak, she opened the already open door and her mouth slackened.

_What is she- In this room- Pein!_

She practically stomped her way down to the kitchen where she felt their chakras. Everyone was there but she had failed to notice when in her rage. Pein was still standing up while the others were sitting around the dinner table. They looked up at her when she came in.

She looked straight at Pein, "With all due respect _Leader-sama_, what _in the seven hells_ is Sakura doing sleeping in _your_ _bed_?"

At this, all the pairs of eyes directed themselves to their _respectful_ leader who sighed at the false accusation of what she could be doing in his room… on his bed. "These…" he jabbed his thumb at the four who were currently washing the dirty dishes, "morons, woke her up." He said, as if that alone would explain exactly why she was there.

Well, it seemed like Konan had gotten the message and sighed, helping Pein at glaring at the numbskulls that they hired. Whilst doing this, she was mentally smirking and sending him looks that said 'You actually _do_ care'. Pein just looked away, seemingly not noticing the said look.

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**Please review! And thank you thank you thank you for those who reviewed! xD**


	13. Thanks

Sorry for the lateness! Just came out of the three big exam this year and I'm quite annoyed (and dissapointed) on the Math test... stupid thing.

**Anyways, here's the next chapter and I promise to work faster since there are no more (significant) exams until after Winter Break! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't and will never own Naruto because now it's just pushing its luck, for fuck's sake when is it going to END!**

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**Chapter 11: Thanks

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**

Two days later… (November)

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Sakura stretched from her bed and checked her temperature. She sighed when she found it was back to normal. She fell back down spread eagle. Her grieving time was over. It was supposed to be over sooner if not for her sudden fever. It was going to be a very different experience from here on out.

She got up and readied herself, taking a nice long shower, she thought about how to start. She dressed and while she combed her hair, she suddenly noticed something. Her eyes suddenly widened at he revelation. Had she been so depressed that she had even ignored the presence of her jewels? Trying to keep calm and not hyperventilate, she quickly made her way over to the pack that the found her with and emptied all its pockets.

Some herbs and flowers, a couple senbon, her trap-earrings and her Tempus Spatium pendant. She went into a full out panic attack when she noticed that, not only had her jewels disappeared, but her bracelet, given to her by Lumiale-sama the first time she arrived, had also disappeared. Those jewels took her forever to find. She rummaged through her closet, making quite a racket in the early morning.

Itachi, who was usually already up before everyone else heard the said racket and went out of his room to inspect it. He found that the noise came from their Blossom. He looked at the clock that was on his wall: 4:15. He frowned deepened at that. He went over and knocked on the girl's door. The noise stopped for a minute and he heard scurrying from the other side. He definitely was curious now, in the time that she was here, she had never made any noise or had shown any sign of hurriedness.

The door was opened and he found a worry-faced Sakura there, looking from side to side, seeming lost. He looked over her head since he was definitely taller than her, about a head taller actually, and raised an eyebrow. Her clothes that were supposed to be in the closet were strewn across the room, most were on the floor, the drawers on the desk were turned over and emptied, the papers and scrolls on the desk were also lying on the floor, spilt ink blotched against the blank white papers. Even her bed was turned over and the table that sat next to it was moved to the side at an angle. He looked back at the panic-stricken kunoichi.

"Sakura-san, is everything alright?" he asked, hiding his concern for her metal stability. Maybe she finally realized her current situation?

She looked up at the sound of his voice as if seeing him for the first time. She opened her mouth, "I lost it…" she said quietly, looking so lost that he was certain she was going to destroy the whole place in trying to find what she was lost… if her room was any hint at what she could do in a few minutes.

"What have you lost?" he asked softly, locking his eyes with hers.

"My… special bracelet and my gems…" she answered him, eyes gazing out into the corridor. "I know I had it with me when I came to this world," she mumbled to herself, but Itachi had caught the words and was bewildered.

_This world…? _He thought, looking back at the girl. Choosing to ignore her words for now, he asked, "What do they look like?"

She brushed past him, "The bracelet is gold with nine small oval gems. There are nine jewels, all different colors and shapes," she answered him.

"I'll help you look," he decided. She stopped in her tracks and looked back at the usually emotionless Uchiha. They stood there, in the middle of the hallway just looking into each other's deep eyes. He remarked that they were no longer dull and empty and it contented him. He was starting to see the spark come back into her eyes.

The duo looked around for two hours with no avail. By this time, all of the remaining Akatsuki members were already up and running. Itachi stopped when he smelled the odor of breakfast. He put a hand on her shoulder, "Let's continue our search after breakfast. You must be famished."

She hesitated. "I know these objects mean a lot to you but you just recovered from an illness, therefore, your health comes first," he reasoned. After all, she was supposed to be a medic; she should know these things already. She reluctantly nodded and let him guide her by the shoulders to the dining room where most of them were already there.

She ate breakfast in silence, as usual, but was less jerky and more jumpy as she fidgeted her legs, tapping them anxiously onto the floor. She didn't realize that her thumping was making the whole room shake. The others looked around trying to find the source of this small earthquake. Pein had come in to a trembling room and immediately noted that it was their kunoichi causing it. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she immediately stopped.

She looked up into his ringed eyes. His eyes widened a fraction at the emotions that now swam in them. Before he could question her, Tobi came bouncing in. Their eyes immediately followed. He skipped to his place across Sakura and chirped a 'Hi'.

Out of the sudden, Sakura stood up, her chair falling to the floor, her hands flat on the wooden table. Her eyes narrowed as she sensed the presence of her gems on his person. With speed that she hadn't shown them before, she had already lunged and pinned Tobi down to the ground. Everyone was very shocked at this but did nothing.

She glared at the man and he squeaked, "Give them to me…" she whispered lowly. Tobi wiggled under her, feeling scared.

"What is Sakura-chan talking about?" he asked, his voice hitting a high octave at the end.

"My bracelet…" she answered and tightened her hold onto his neck. He gasped and he wriggled his arm from being squished by her knee and reached into his pocket. He took it out slowly. The other members, by now, were leaning towards the pair on the floor, very interested in the scene. They leaned down even more when Tobi had taken out a small drawstring pouch.

As if it was the magic word, Sakura let go of his neck and leaned back onto his stomach. Her eyes went back to their normal size and she sighed a breath in relief. She reached out to take it… but as she was about to, the Jashinist had gotten hold of it, dangling it in the air with a smug smirk.

Immediately, Sakura growled and narrowed her eyes at him. Hidan just laughed at that, "The little kitten wants her toy back?" he mockingly cooed. From the corner of his eye, Itachi gave him a warning look. The albino took no heed of it though and ran out of the room, still clutching her precious belonging.

She leaped up like an agile cat and followed him. The others didn't waste any time either and pursued them as well. Hidan had brought them to a training ground still inside the mountain. It was rocky and had some boulders strewn here and there.

"What's wrong little kitten?" he mocked the girl whose fury heightened even more. He sat upon a rather large boulder, dangling his arm out and the object towards her, "If you want it so much, come and get it."

At that, Sakura emitted a low growl and leaped towards him, fist up. He jumped to the neighboring boulder and whistled as the boulder he was on crumbled under the force of her punch. She turned to him and leaped once more. This time, he didn't jump away and instead put his foot up and kicked her stomach, sending her down to the ground.

"That all you got, kitten?" he turned his attention to the sack, "Maybe this thing isn't as important to you, I guess, maybe I should just destroy it." He said lightly.

Itachi, watching by the sidelines with the others, shook his head. She had ripped her room to shreds in trying to find it and didn't even want to eat just to be able to search for it. It was very important to the girl, but it seems like the fat ass Jashinist didn't get the hint. He should have gotten the clue since she had tried to choke, _Tobi_, of all people, to try and get it back.

Sakura sat up. This guy was just going _too far_. Her sensitive hands sent out scouting vibrations that were so subtle that no one except her could feel it. She found that there was an inner body of water right next to this training ground. The earth was too hard for her to be able to use it. She eerily stood up, her hair hiding her eyes.

With the movements that she had been practicing for over eight years, she had swiftly twirled around gracefully, calling the water. With an imaginary push of her hands, her arms stretched out in front of her, water spewed out of the hole behind her, right towards Hidan. She quickly closed her fist and it froze over, effectively trapping him.

"The fuck?" he shouted as he tried to move his limbs. But Sakura didn't stop there; she ran forwards and broke the boulder he was perched on, twisting her hands expertly, the remaining ruble came up and encaged him. Shooting her right hand up swiftly, a dagger-like piece of earth found itself right near his neck, ready to cut it.

She was about to pierce his skin but a hand over hers stopped her from finishing him. She looked up into the deep onyx eyes of the Uchiha. He pushed the pouch into her hand and, hand still on top of hers, slowly guided her hand back to her side, now knowing that she could control elements without doing any sort of hand signs.

The rest of the Akatsuki were very impressed to say the least. They've never seen or heard of anyone being able to control elements without any special hand signs or even scrolls. This girl was just amazing them more and more each day. They went back to the main base, leaving Hidan still trapped in the rock-prison. He deserved it.

"That was awesome, Sakura, un! How do you do that, un?" the quite amazed blond asked. Sakura gave him a small smile.

"I learned," was her simple answer, remembering all the hardships she had to go through to be able to control that many elements.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Kakuzu piped in, it was truly something different. He had been on duty since Konoha was founded but he hadn't ever met _anyone_ capable of doing that.

"I haven't even perfected it yet," Sakura informed them. "You should see what my teachers can really do, _then_ you'll be amazed." They made their way into the living room where Sakura sat down on the couch with Itachi at her right and Pein at her left.

She opened the drawstring and emptied its contents onto her lap. Itachi noted that everything seemed to be there, from the bracelet, to the multi-colored jewels she was fervently looking for this morning. She brushed her fingers over each of them gently, as they could just break if she did anything too harsh. The others around her noticed the sadness in her eyes almost immediately, then turned to the objects. Did it have something to do with these objects that she was found half-dead in their territory?

But if so…

They couldn't help but thank them.

For it enabled them to meet her.

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**So there's a nice little chap where Hidan gets his religious ass kicked! Next up we have a one on one match featuring Itachi ad Sakura and where a little angsty fluff will take place~ I love angsty fluff... anywho, please review!**


	14. Fire

**So, since I've gotten a lot of reviews on my last chapter, here's the next one extra early! (Maybe a few hundred words short) but not any less interesting! Anyways, thank you for all those reviews, really!**

**Now to clear up some things first: I just realized (thanks to a comment) that Sakura's age is a little floo. Sakura is currently 16. She spent 2 years in Simulacrum. I made it 5years=1year because I'm trying to be little realistic, someone can't just gain that much power in a few months or something!  
And second of all, I know that all of you have probably noticed that almost every0 what the hell EVERYONE in this fic is terribly OOC. But my stories are mostly Romance so it's needed. I mean, Itachi, Sasori, Pein, Neji, hell, all the ice bitches are all going to be OOC! **

**Okay, now that that's cleared up... for the holidays, I'll be putting up a Christmas chappie which will coincide beautifully with the progress of the story so it's not just a random extra chapter. So expect that around the week of Christmas. I've also got planned a New Years chappie, too~ SO please look forward to it~**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.**

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**Chapter 12: Fire

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**

**1st week of December...

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**

Itachi lay on his bed looking up at the ceiling.

"_I know I had it with me when I came to this world…"_

_To this world…_

Her words echoed in his mind. What did it mean?

He idly stared at the steadily moving hand of the clock… 2 in the morning. When he had a problem in his head, it would never leave until he found the solution. Activating his Sharingan, he looked around and noticed that their little Blossom wasn't in her room. With a final resolution, he got up to find her.

He found her in the training room where she had fought Hidan. She wasn't wearing her cloak nor her Akatsuki uniform. She was wearing a huge light blue shirt that he recognized as being his partners. She was sitting Indian style on one of the boulders she hadn't crushed to pieces, her eyes closed and her back straight.

She looked at peace.

Not as much as she was in her little cubicle but close to it.

"Uchiha-san…" she whispered. Evidently, he heard her, even if he was a few good meters away from her.

"Haruno-san," he greeted but made no move to approach her.

Her eyes opened and for a moment, only for a moment, he could read her emotions like an open book, until a barrier was cast over them. Like a wall of some sorts. But in that short moment, he could read melancholy and… just pure loneliness in her eyes.

It was unbecoming of her.

"Late night training?" she asked lightly, her voice not betraying anything that her eyes did just seconds ago.

He nodded in silent agreement. "And you?"

She shrugged and jumped from the boulder and landed gracefully without a sound a few feet in front of him with one of Sai's trademark 'fake smiles'. "Same here." The shirt reached all the way down to her knees as she stood. Her waist length hair, instead of being straight, was actually wavy near the middle to the ends.

He also noted that ever since she got the bracelet back, it never left her right wrist. Her gems though were nowhere in sight.

_This world…_

Her words once again echoed through his head and in the blink of an eye, he had her pinned to the boulder, his large hand around her neck while the other held her wrists above her head.

"Who are you?" he asked monotonously.

She didn't struggle in his grasp, just looked him straight in the eyes, like that one time. This time though, her eyes were fierce and hostile while her body seemed to be utterly relaxed. They stayed there for a while, just scrutinizing each other.

Itachi loosened his hold on her neck and wrists when a threatening spike of earth came too close to his jugular for comfort. But he didn't completely let go. The spear of earth poked lightly at his neck, daring him to do anything more.

Then, in a burst of flames, he was projected away a few feet. Evidently, he just slid back on the soles of his shoes and watched on as fire encircled her wrist and danced around her body.

Challenge.

That's what it was. She knew perfectly that she was up against a Fire affinity shinobi. One of the best even. So he took it as a challenge.

Fire vs Fire

Itachi activated his Sharingan…

And the fight began.

Chapter (?):

For a few seconds, none of the two moved. In the distance, they could hear the soft, rhythmic 'plop' of single water drops dropping down to the ground.

Plop

5…

Plop

4…

Plop

3…

Plop

2…

Plop

1…

Ting…

0.

Sakura flew forward, her fists enflamed as she jabbed at Itachi's form, left, right, up, down at an incredible speed, that, if not for the Sharingan, he would've already been hit. As she was pulling her hand back though, he caught her forearm and flipped her over, bringing a knee to her gut which she skillfully dodged by arching her body to follow the action. She flipped back, getting a few good meters between them.

It was Itachi's turn now. Starting off by appearing in front of her, his fist already soaring through the air. She blocked it by catching his fist but was caught off guard when his right leg finally landed a blow to her side. Her body flew but showing an expertise in flexibility, she twisted in midair and slid back on all fours. Using her current position for leverage, she rounded up, feigning to get a hit at his chest. He fell for it for as she neared, he outstretched his hands to stop the blow.

But, unfortunately for him, with a burst of fire from her ankles, she was propelled over him instead of right at him. She grabbed his shoulders, flipped over his head and kicked his back.

Par.

One to one.

It was time they began to get serious.

_The Fire was ignited._

Sakura smirked, mirroring his expression. With no hesitation, they lunged at each other, having no weapons to use, they settled for Taijutsu.

The pinkette swung her leg over but missed his head when he ducked, retaliating at once as he swept his leg over the only one holding her up. She used her hands to get up into a hand stand when she felt her feet being swept up from the ground, aiming a well-placed kick toward his jaw. It connected and he went stumbling back.

Using this as an advantage point, she followed with a jab at his abdomen which he blocked at the last second. Thinking he was going to push her back, she firmly planted her feet into the ground, but instead, he twisted her over with a hand behind her back and a kunai at her throat.

They were both breathing heavily by now, Sakura looked at the glinted kunai which, she noted wryly, has been recently sharpened. Her eyes darted around, looking for an escape. Feeling a little reckless, she pushed her neck forward onto the kunai, drawing blood which made a slight distraction for he made the mistake of loosening up his hold on her. She used this moment to slide out of his hold and back away a few meters.

Itachi glanced at his kunai which was dripping with her blood. That act made him realize that this girl before him wasn't afraid of death. Either that, or she was suicidal. He turned his attention back to her. Blood still flowed in tiny trickles down her slender neck and into the shirt, red spots appearing on the fabric.

He was taken out of his reverie when he dodged a kick to his gut and he decided to finally use a jutsu, the famous Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu. He visibly saw her eyes widen as the fire ball got bigger, bigger than Sasuke's ever was (a/n: haha… that's what she said…).

A memory suddenly shot in front of her eyes… fire… burning like Hell's very own fire… pain. Excruciating pain.

She quickly jumped back and her gaze flittered from the fire ball to its owner as she refocused. Putting her hands out in front of her, her eyes narrowed and sweat dripped down her forehead from the intense battle as well as the heat from the fire.

She spread her legs to get balance and momentarily closed her eyes, remembering Oscar-sama's words.

_Fire is untamable; it is the one that is hardest to master because of its rebellious nature. You cannot control it like you do the earth. The earth is stable and solid while fire… it's a free spirit. You cannot and will never be able to fully get control of it. Only a God can do that. _He had added with a chuckle.

'_Well then master… I guess Itachi's a God then, nee?' _she thought to herself as it was only a feet in front of her, her hands were starting to burn and she could feel the amber licking her hands, she was sure going to have third degree burns later on…

With a wince and a curse, the flames reached her fingers and with a _'swoosh'_, she changed its direction, making it go back to the one who sent it. She breathed heavily and a grunt of pain left her and she fell to her knees, making sure not to use her hands.

Itachi was watching the scene, thinking that she actually might _be _suicidal. It was possible to dodge it, maybe with a few burns or two, but it was feasible. He sighed when he found that this girl was way more than what she let on. Well, of course he knew that the moment she just abruptly appeared out of nowhere.

He approached her crouched down form. She was already healing herself of course… but she was shaking. Her hands were shaking and her eyes were blank as she looked at them.

"-runo-san… Sakura-san!" he had to raise his voice a little before she finally got out of her stupor. She looked up at him with sudden hazard. He resisted the urge to scrunch his eyebrows together to show confusion. "Come."

Itachi led them back to his room. The pinkette was following him like a lost kitten with her hands near her chest, still tender from the abrupt healing. When the Uchiha had entered his room, she hesitated, not sure if she was allowed to. So she just stood there, her toes an inch from the border of the door. The dark man looked back at her and threw her an exasperated look that had her stepping with much attention into the room.

She quietly closed the door behind her and decided to look round the room of one of the last Uchiha members alive. It was in between personal and general. A queen-sized bed was up against the west wall with black sheets, opposite it was an oak desk with stationery and some old scrolls. She could see that the one he was currently reading came from Mist. On both sides of the door stood two full bookshelves filled with old as well as new books and some scrolls hidden here and there. Next to the right-side bookshelf was a closet and on the left-side one was a door, probably leading to the bathroom.

Her eyes then landed on the Uchiha himself. He was currently rummaging through the closet. He appeared a minute later with a grey shirt not unlike Sasuke's when he was 12 and a pair of shorts. He handed the aforementioned attires to hers and motioned toward the bathroom. She obliged.

Steam poured out of the doorway as she came out, drying her hair with a white towel. She found him sitting idly on his bed with a book in hand. The motions of her hands rubbing her scalp slowed down until they stopped completely as she watched with trained eyes the strain in his eyes.

Itachi shifted his gaze from the book to the girl who was currently hovering over him. She looked at him reproachfully. He raised an eyebrow at this, "Is something bothering you, Sakura-san?" he asked innocently as they looked at each other eye to eye.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Yes, there is. I am a medic. And, no matter how much a patient, especially shinobi patients, say they are 'fine', I know when they are not." She gave a hard stare.

_She gave fuel to the Fire…_

He looked into her eyes, blazing with determination and authority and… compassion. That was her problem. As a shinobi, one must not show any emotion. No mercy, no better treatment. Yes, a well brought shinobi was emotionless. Medics, though, they were a slightly different story. Of course there are some who control their emotions well like a poker player, and some…

He gazed into her emerald orbs…

Just couldn't keep themselves from feeling compassion. That was her weakness, if she ever had any in the first place. Looking into her yes again, he was mildly surprised to see that she was quite aware of what he thought she was.

"I may be a shinobi… Uchiha-san… but I was recruited here mainly for the reason of my title as medic." With that, he held no power anymore.

And that was how he found himself, at 4:30 in the morning, lying on a black and white divan couch which only had a headrest that, once again, Tobi found and brought to the base. His obsession with chairs was about as bad as his obsession with 'being a good boy'. He felt exposed and stiff.

"Relax please. It will be harder to do this when you are tense," she instructed him as she placed a wooden chair behind the spot where his head was resting and sat down. Her fully healed hands brushed against his temples slowly. Then, ever so calmly, she started to prod into his system.

Itachi just idly watched as she closed her eyes in concentration. As each second ticked by, the frown that marred her face deepened. He himself didn't feel too comfortable with a foreign chakra prodding the place where his famed bloodline limit dwelled.

Sakura heaved a sigh of exasperation and looked down at him, "Congratulations, you're blind." She stated sarcastically. Her eyes narrowed sharply, "And you know it. And yet, in the two and half months that I've spent here, you've never come to me about it." She looked away, not willing to show the emotions flicking in her eyes.

The Uchiha sat up and shook his head, "It's irrelevant." And then… he made his first mistake.

He quickly found himself with his head back down and the courageous kunoichi's chakra flowing in and out of his system. He quickly put up barriers but it too late.

She found his secret.

_He continued to feed the Fire._

Sakura's eyes were a little wide and her mouth as well. She looked from Itachi's body to his face. Her shoulders slumped, "Uchiha Itachi…" she said slowly, "As a medic… I oppose to the idea of you going on missions anymore." Her bangs hid her eyes, "You are sick. You have a lung disease that is not easy to cure without proper medical care."

"I know."

Her eyes flashed dangerously when she met his eyes, "You know. You know and you still continue on with this kind of lifestyle?" she restrained herself from yelling at him.

"I will live my life my way, Haruno-san. This is what I chose." That was his second mistake.

"So… you're telling me… that you're just going to leave it like that? Just resign yourself to die when your lungs collapse?" It was a rhetorical question… one that needed not an answer.

"Yes." But he answered.

_The Fire was still burning bright in the both of them…_

The only thing that could be heard was the slow and rhythmic sound of the clock's hand moving for the next few minutes. Itachi gave a mall unnoticeable flinch when the door to his room was slammed shut so hard that he thought it was going to fall from its hinges.

Letting her go was the third mistake he did that day. And he regretted it.

_But just like him… the Fire will one day cease.

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**So, I hope you all liked it, the real angsty angst will be for the next chapter~ **

**Please review! Pwetty please? Until next time~ =3 Nya~**


	15. Tension

**Hey guys! As promised I updated sooner! Yay! Anyways, thank for all of the reviews! And, of course, I just started to notice, you know the stories who only have 10 or so rviews? Not many people go to them but some are really fantastic! That's like, what happened to this one, I swear, as soon as the review mark hit the 30s or so, I got 1000 more hits... **

**Okay, thanks for you guys who actually read these author notes! and It's almost Christmas so I should get started on those two specials! So, I think there will be one or two more chapters real quick before the 25th so please don't be mad if the next chaps are only like 2000 words, lacking my usual 3000.**

**Oh, yeah, the anonymous reviewer, The Dark Princess, if you have an account, please PM me! I'd really like to talk to you!**

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**Chapter 13: Tension

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Sakura stomped her way though the semi-dark hallway where their bedrooms were located. The sheer forces of her steps were making the walls and floor shake but she took no heed to it. Quickly unsealing her door, she stepped in and resealed it again. She had a lot of steam to burn right now. With only a glance towards the clock, she ripped off her clothes and entered the bathroom. Turning the shower on maximum cold, she reveled in it.

It soothed her.

The stinging pain was nothing compared to what she's been through before so it brought back fond memories. She let her mind drift away to reminisce in the memories that this kind of pain brought her. It reminded her first and foremost of Simulacrum: the day when she fought against the cold blistering blizzard… and the time when Lumiale-sama had almost let her drown.

She chuckled at that particular recollection. Even now, they were still feeling quite guilty about the whole ordeal. Then her smile faded as she thought about the sudden contrariety Itachi's fire gave her.

She brought her right hand to her left shoulder where the skin was still pink and newly formed. It gave her… the feeling of being alive. Unlike the cold which reminded her of death… this particular… pain gave her the most peculiar feeling.

_Itachi…_

She then caught herself before that thought went any further. She mentally slapped herself at thinking of him too much and too highly as well! It wasn't healthy.

Especially when it was Uchihas. After all… it's always the Uchihas, right?

She stopped the water and just stood there, eyes fixed towards the drain but not actually looking at it.

"Achoo!" her sneeze snapped her out of her reverie.

She rubbed the underside of her nose a while before deciding to get out. Wrapping a gray towel around her body, she went out of the bathroom only a note that she had been in there for thirty minutes and that the odor of breakfast was already wafting into her room.

Quickly getting dressed, she made her way towards the kitchen where almost everyone was, save Zetsu and Itachi. Thankfully.

She took the seat in-between Deidara and Sasori. Deidara passed her a plate and then they began passing around the rice, some leftover fish from last night's dinner, an assorted basket of fruit and juice. Sakura took a bit of everything. After that early-morning spar, she could inhale anything right about now, really.

It was then that Itachi showed up. She didn't even spare him a glance. In fact, neither did he. It was an understatement to say that breakfast was particularly tense that morning.

It was the Leader who broke the silence, "Sakura, I think it's time that you train with our other members. Missions have been slow this month so I'm sure everyone would have time. Is there anything in a particular area that you find you lack in more than others?" he asked her, his eyes set on her form.

Sakura started peeling the apple in her hand, thinking over it, "I don't think I need any more Taijutsu training…" she said, more to herself, "Ninjutsu's okay, but I think I'll need to re-sharpen my skills a bit. It's been… a while since I've actually used a real jutsu." She confessed.

The others were very interested in that bit of information.

"So that means you've only been relying on that element power?" Sasori asked. She looked up at him, not once stopping her peeling and nodded in affirmation.

"What of Genjutsu?" Pein questioned.

The pinkette paused for a moment before replying, "I may need to sharpen that as well. It's been a while since I've met up with a Genjutsu master."

"I see," Pein mulled about it for a minute or two before voicing his decision, "Then, for now, you will be sparring with Itachi and Kisame."

Sakura stopped peeling the apples and Itachi's chopsticks paused midway to snatch a pickled plum. They both stiffened.

Everyone seemed to realize the sudden… tension that appeared between the two and everyone was quiet.

Itachi and Sakura's eyes met.

"Is there a problem?" Pein asked, choosing to ignore the abnormal reaction of the two. He would figure out what was wrong later.

"Not at all, Leader-sama. Haruno-san, Kisame and I will meet you at the second training ground when you are ready." With that, Itachi pulled his chopsticks away from the serving plate and gently put them down on his plate before excusing himself. A few pairs of eyes followed him; when he was out of sight, they fixated their gaze on their newest member who just started to dice the apples into miniscule pieces.

With a screech of her chair, she stood up and also excused herself. The others were left wondering what the hell happened to the two. Or, more specifically, what happened _between_ the two.

"What… the hell was that, un?" Deidara voiced.  
Hidan smirked at him, "It's fucking called: sexual tension."  
Deidara glared at the albino, "Was not! She's obviously mad at him for something!"  
Hidan's smirk widened, "Yeah, he probably didn't fucking meet… _her needs_. And now she's bitchy since she hasn't been properly f-"  
"That's enough!" boomed Pein's voice above Hidan's, who only let a mad grin light up his face, the grin showing clearly the words '_someone_-is-jealous'. Pein just glared at him.

Konan rolled her eyes at the immaturity of some men coughHidancough. She excused herself from the table quietly. She stole a quick glance at her surrogate brother and mentally sighed before making a beeline towards Sakura's door.

"Sakura… can I come in?" she rapped on the door. There was a muffled 'come in' and she entered the room. She looked around for the head of pink, who she found sitting Indian-style on a rectangular piece of wood three times her size. With white chalk, she had drawn a large circle, with the diameter of the girl's own height (5'2). Then, in bright red chalk, a star was drawn, each tip touching a point of the circle.

Five of her nine colored gems were each in a branch of the star and the four others were placed on the four vacant sports between the branches of the stars, leaving only the spot between the two 'leg' branches behind her empty.

Sakura herself was kneeling in the middle of the star, her knees pressed together, her eyes closed, and her upper body ramrod straight and her two arms stretched in front of her, palms faced downwards. She opened her eyes when Konan walked in and smiled.

"Wow. What's all this?" Konan was curious, when she first came into the room, she could only see Sakura and the things around her, but now that she was standing in the room, she noticed that all the furniture was pushed as far away form the middle of the room, where Sakura was.

The pinkette stood up carefully off the wood, careful as to not accidentally wipe anything off and jumped gracefully off the wood onto the carpeted floor. The blue-haired now noticed what she was wearing. It was a simple enough dress; the fabric reminded her of something familiar though. It was sea-green, almost matching the exact shade of her eyes, with an empire waist, there was a strip of fabric to do that, and, again, she found the familiar design of blue flowers on it. It reached the younger girl's mid-thigh, flowing out like a newly bloomed flower.

Konan blinked once before backtracking, "That's the bathroom curtain!" she exclaimed with wide eyes. At that, Sakura began to laugh and soon enough, she did too.

"Wow, I never thought it would look this great as a dress. Just, wow. It looks great; I'm definitely coming to you if I need clothes. But, next time, warn me, 'kay?"

Sakura's giggles quieted down, "Will do, and sorry. I guess I should've asked first... but I had some free time this morning, I was up very early."

At that, Konan suddenly remembered what she was doing here in the first place. "Umh, Sakura," the said girl looked up and gave her, her undivided attention, "Did something happen between you and Itachi?"

Sakura quickly sobered up and schooled her face into one of indifference, "No, nothing, why?"  
Konan's eyebrow quirked and she had a look that said 'You're lying and I'm not going to go away until you tell me the truth'.

And so, Sakura told the older kunoichi about what had taken place only hours before. Konan nodded every now and then, looking serious. Sakura finished her story and growled in annoyance, "Him and his stupid Uchiha pride," she mumbled under her breath.

Konan sighed, "Pein and I knew that Itachi's eyesight was failing him… but we never could we have imagined that he was actually blind. I think Pein has a suspicion on the lung disease, though. Itachi's been disappearing once every month to who knows where."

Sakura thought about it, humming reflectively, "That disease can be delayed with medication. I'm betting that he's been going out to get a monthly treatment…" she sighed, "There is a surgical procedure to completely remove the tumor, per se. But if he's not willing to live… then why should I bother?" she asked defiantly.

Konan looked at the girl, "Because you would be eaten by guilt, knowing that you could've saved him but decided not to just because he said so."

The sixteen year-old nodded remorsefully, "I'm being too compassionate about everything. It's my greatest weakness." She mumbled.

Konan nodded grimly agreeing but then smiled softly, "But I think that's what's charming about you… it makes people… want to protect you." She could already name half of the Akatsuki who were already looking out for her.

Sakura nodded and looked around the room, "The medic in me would never forgive me if I don't do something…" she whispered. "But… this is Itachi Uchiha for fuck's sake."

Konan grunted, "Hidan's rubbing off on you. I gotta go… you have fun," she winked playfully, earning a half-hearted glare from the girl.

Now, alone, she lied down on the misplaced bed, facing the ceiling. She put a hand over her eyes as she reminisced the last few hours again for about the tenth time this late morning.

'_Who are you?'_

He had asked. Why would he ask that? He knew as much about her shinobi life as Pein did and considering that was a lot, why did he ask that?

Deciding that she was just giving herself a headache she stopped thinking, now craving some violence. Then she suddenly remembered that she had training with -Ego-Won't-Let-Me-Get-Treated himself and Fish-face.

When she arrived at the training ground, both Itachi and Kisame were out of their cloaks. The latter was preparing Samehada while the former was meditating on a nearby rock. The training ground was grassy, making her take note that the ground here was fertile, maybe she could use it to grow some herbs.

Her musings were cut short when Samehada sliced the air where her head was just seconds ago. "Don't get distracted Pinky."

Sakura glided back in a fighting stance and smirked, "I'll keep that in mind." For the next two hours, Kisame and Sakura were warming up, yes, it's called a warm-up.

They finally stopped when Itachi stood up and walked calmly over to them. Kisame nodded at the kunoichi who just smugly grinned back, her eyes roaming over his bruised and bloodied form. She then focused on the person a few meters away from her, never quite making eye contact.

"Since the field has been altered too much…" Itachi started, looking around. The earth was now a bunch of rubble stacked on top of each other, here and there, there would be craters and some boulders sliced clean in half. "I'll be just testing your Genjutsu resistance capability." He kept his eyes on the wall behind her the whole time he said this. He, though, took note that she wasn't meeting his eyes as well.

Kisame watched this interaction with mild curiosity. Never in his life would he ever think to meet someone who could ruffle up his partner… ever. He sighed as Itachi put her under a genjutsu. But he would just sit this period of Itachi's life out. He had a feeling that things were going to get complicated.

A dozen genjutsus later…

She was having more and more trouble breaking out of them as they got harder to dispel. It was now bordering along the end of A-class and nearly falling into the S-class category.

"Ten minute break."

Those were the words she would've liked to hear hmm… let's say a fucking hour ago! As soon as the words left his mouth, she collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.

She heard footsteps coming closer to her but didn't raise her head. A cool water bottle was placed in front of her by a pale hand. She took it gratefully and finished it in one go. She breathed in a sigh of relief.

"You did well. You'd manage perfectly well with a B-class genjutsu shinobi." He stated.

Sakura resisted the urge to growl and contented herself to a well-hidden scowl. _'B-class? B-class? Yeah, right, your fucking B-class genjutsus are more like A-class ones! You stupid, idiotic, egotistical-_

"Haruno-san."

She looked up. Big mistake.

She now found herself in a black and red world where as far as the eye can see were wooden crosses, each stuck on top of a dirt pile… graves.

She took in the first sight of what the Mangekyou world was like… and for some... bizarre, twisted, irrational reason… she liked it. Maybe it was the red sky… even though the color was supposed to reek of anger, it only reminded her of warmth. The endless black soil under her, now, bare feet were hard but it gave her a sense of… peacefulness.

This was the darkness.

She had never been able to produce the true image of darkness as how she felt it. It was always… lacking something. Every time she would use her 'Nightmare' move, sure, it scared a lot of people to shit, but she always felt that something was missing.

I guess, she could hear but wasn't really listening to Clavis and Francis-sama. It was ironic though, that she would find peace in a place where so many others had gone insane… gone mad with fear and died, just another grave in the endless cemetery that was the Mangekyou Sharingan. She understood now how powerful it really was. How powerful _he_ really was.

"You have no fear… why is that?" his breath fanned over the back of her neck, sending goose bumps along her back.

She turned to him, "Because I have nothing to fear here." Itachi was astonished to discover that there was nothing but sincerity in her eyes.

"You are a foolish person then."

She smiled wistfully, "You're right. I'm foolish because…" she didn't finish that sentence but continued with another, "I know what I'm doing. I know that I am now a part of an S-class criminal organization… that I betrayed the village that I once called home. That… I'm actually starting to like it here, living with the people who want one of my closest friends dead." She looked down at her hands, "I feel guilty about all that, sure. But… I'm having the vague feeling… that you have been lying to the world as well." She whispered.

The only sound that was heard was only from the wind that picked up, blowing her hair back and his to shroud his face. When the wind settled down, she boldly locked her eyes with his.

"This is not you… and this is not me… we are both the same, per se. We both hide our true selves from the world… for fear of being discovered…"

The Uchiha, who has, until now, stayed quiet, spoke, "No. You and I are very different. The only thing we might have in common is our incessant thirst for knowledge. You and I both know what real power is. And we thrive for it unconsciously. We fear and accept the unknown at the same time… sometimes making us vulnerable to the world."

She shivered at the thought of vulnerability. But everything he said was true. And… that made her seek out the opportunity to discover who Uchiha Itachi really was.

"You're right… as usual… don't you think it was imprudent to reveal your weakness so soon? I know you don't trust me," she said.

Suddenly, he was just centimeters apart from her, him towering over her petite form, "I don't."Sakura sighed and unconsciously leaned forward.

"Why?" leaning millimeter by millimeter.  
"Because… for the simple fact…" he brought his head down slowly.  
"Yes?" their faces were mere millimeters apart.  
"That you are unpredictable… I hate what I can't control…" he breathed out. Like those were the magic words, he pulled back swiftly. Sakura turned away from him, a hand to her mouth, pondering about what just transpired and what would've happened if he hadn't pulled away.

Kisame stared wide-eyed as he looked from the irritated Itachi, standing rigidly with his back faced to the shocked Sakura who was kneeling on the ground with a hand to her mouth… and he wondered what the hell happened while he was out.

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**So, that was the 13th chap, actually, I really didn't know what the title chap should have been so if anyone got any better ideas please tell me~ I know that there's a lot of ItaSaku going on in these chaps and the next chaps also will have ItaSaku. The Christmas and New Years will be back to Sakura's Harem! **

**Oh, yeah, just a little heads up about the story:  
The Akatsuki Arc will continue on for... hmm... let's say 5 or 6 (maybe a little more but definitely no more than 8) more chaps, after New Years, it'll go way faster. I'm just thinking to skipping to random days of Spring and Summer, kind of like filler chaps with some fluff! And, of course, since I love holidays, there will be some extra Holiday chaps that will not coincide with the time though!  
For those who are awaiting the return of Konoha... well, you're gonna have to wait a while... that's really far from where we actually are.**

**So, that's it and thanks for all of you who actually took the time to read this and took the time to review! This is going even better than Cruel Angel! **

**PS: I also have a lot of other SakuraHarems somewhere in my computer, most of them AU so maybe I'll put them up sometime!**

**Thank you~**


	16. Deal

**Hey peoples! Hope you're enjoying your holidays~ I'm just gonna make this short, thanks for reviewing, I'm really happy ^^! Ok, without further ado, here's the next chappie and more ItaSaku moments! I'm seriously late so there'll be one more kind of short chap coming out tomorrow then the next day will be Christmas~ Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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**Chapter 14: Deal**

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They walked side by side but no words were spoken. Kisame resisted the urge to sigh loudly, it was worse than this morning. It wasn't just tense, it was bordering on extremely awkward and going to heavy tension that you could cut with a kunai. It really was almost suffocating.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna go… uh… get something to eat. You guys want something?" he asked the duo in front of him.

Neither answered.

Deciding that it was useless, he just shrugged and quietly parted with them at the next corner. It was now just the two of them and it seemed like the hallway would never end. The pinkette suddenly stopped and watched as the man in front of her kept on.

"Stop."

He did.

But he didn't face her.

And, for the first time in a long time, she was feeling at loss of words to say, at loss of action to do. Hell, she didn't even know why she had called to him. So they stayed there, standing in a somber, musky hallway of a mountain in Ame, both having so many questions to ask each other, but were never voiced out.

He continued on his way.

And she was left there.

The next day…

It wasn't any better. They both stayed their separate ways, as if a line was literally dividing their living space. If both were in the same room, they were on opposite sides. If they crossed in the hallway, Sakura would drop her head just a bit and he would lift his chin just a bit as well and they steered away from each other like two extremities of a magnet.

Sakura thought it kind of funny actually. It was like they were kids again, ignoring each other because of a little quarrel. But, of course, this was Itachi Uchiha and she was Sakura Haruno. Heck, just putting those two names in one sentence seemed wrong. No one would be able to figure out the connection at all.

The rest of the Akatsuki though, they might've not known what had happened between the two, except Konan, but… those who wanted to get closer to the girl had their chance now that one of the "competitors" for her attention was gone. Of course, none of them would ever admit out loud that Itachi really had a way with the ladies. It was a simple fact of life that all the Uchiha male, before, and the remaining, were all real lady-killers without even trying.

Sakura was lounging in her little cubicle, reading a medical scroll when one of her secret admirers approached.

"Hey, Sakura, un. May I join you, un?" the blind asked with a smile. The rosette nodded and smiled equally, putting her back against the glass window while he took a place next to the place she freed for him. He looked over to what she was reading but soon stopped for he was giving himself a headache, "I don't understand a thing!" he exclaimed, which earned him a genuine giggle from her.

"I didn't expect you to," she teased. He pouted and she just laughed.

That gained the attention of the other occupants near and in the room. Hidan looked on with a scowl, Kakuzu feigned indifference while Kisame was just glad that neither Pein nor Itachi were in the room right now. Now, he may be the brawn of the group, but he understood things. And right now, he was sure that half of the Akatsuki were wrapped around a little girl with pink hair's little finger.

Unfortunately for them, their almighty Leader is one of the men who are smitten with her, he's just in denial. The blue man glanced at the scowling Jashinist and smirked. Even the religious curser was already getting jealous of the blue-eyed (she-man) blond.

He also noticed that, Kakuzu, who might've not noticed it, yet, was fairing along better than the others. Why is that? Well, because the "like" he has for Sakura differs a bit than the "like" Deidara, Pein and his partner (yes, he noticed) held. He was more like the big brother type who looks after the younger sister who was just hitting the full height of adolescent and needed to be carefully chaperoned so she wouldn't get into trouble.

Oh, yes, and he only wished that their Leader would've chosen _that one_ instead of the steady infatuation he's slowly gaining. What would the Akatsuki turn out to be if their boss was love-sick with a woman under his orders who, at least, appears to have no idea whatsoever of what she was doing to him, as well as some of his comrades?

He just didn't like it.

It was like High School in those chick-flick movies and Sakura was the poor, innocent little geek who suddenly got a makeover and became the most sought-out girl with boys at her feet. Their leader was the student body president who suddenly noticed the girl and was still in denial about his feelings. Deidara was the one who was straightforward and was not afraid to show his obvious interest to the oblivious girl. Kakuzu, as mentioned before, was the older brother who looks after his little sister from afar, scaring away potential boyfriend disasters. And Itachi… well, that guy's literally the brother of the boy who rejected her because she was a geek (which is why she got a makeover in the first place).

He stopped his train of thought there and shuddered. Damn, he was getting contaminated. Thinking about chick-flicks and high school. Remind him to leave the room when Tobi and Konan start to watch re-runs of those cliché movies.

He looked up to see a charming scene though. Deidara had migrated over to Sakura's side where he had an arm up around her shoulders to the other side where he was holding one end of the scroll she was reading. Because of that, he had to lean in towards her and her head was at the crook of his neck while she lay back and continued reading as if the position didn't mean anything.

She really was innocent.

He sighed, thinking that her innocent mind hadn't been contaminated… yet. With Hidan around with his "sexual tension" crap, she was bound to catch on and get the mentality of a real teenager who hit puberty.

He looked up when footsteps neared the room and frowned when he saw that it was Pein. He looked forward but still was able to look at his Leader.

As soon as he had walked in, Pein realized that he was beginning to feel… a certain emotion towards the pinkette… as well as their resident blond who just _couldn't keep his hands to himself_. He was nonchalant though as he passed by the pair, not even a glance.

Sakura, though, oblivious to almost everything here, had stood up and asked if she could talk to him about something… in private.

Once again, everyone's reaction was immediate. Hidan's scowl deepened, if that was possible; Kakuzu stiffened just a bit and Deidara pouted at the loss. While Pein… well, he was very content at the moment.

The two then made their way towards his office where he told her to take a seat on the chair right in front of his desk. He put his hands out in front of him and clasped them together, his undivided attention on her.

She smiled softly and cleared her throat, "Leader-sama,"

"Pein."

She blinked.

"In private, you may call me Pein."

She nodded and restarted, "Pein-sama. I am inquiring… well, I would like to know if Uchiha-san has come to you about his health problems."

Pein sobered up. She came to talk to him about _Uchiha Itachi_. Great.

"If you are talking about his eyesight, then, yes, I have knowledge of that. As well as his lung problems. I have been able to contact one of our collaborators to provide him the proper medication." He explained.

She nodded, "I see."

"You are worried about him." He stated, hiding the sudden bitterness of his voice.

She looked up, surprised the looked down again, "I can't say that I'm worried. But… it's my duty as medic to come to aid anyone who needs my help." She said quietly, remembering the times when she worked at Konoha Hospital. "Ita- Uchiha-san is… might I be too bold as to say that we're a lot alike?" she then had a faraway look on her face.

Pein mentally cursed the Uchiha. "Sakura-san." She looked up, "You are the medic. I am actually wondering why you sought me out."

"Well," she started, "I just… needed to talk to someone. And… I really find it easy to talk… to you, Pein-sama." She admitted.

For some reason, his heart beat faster as she confessed this. "If it eases your mind, you may come and talk to me whenever you want. My door will always be open to you."

"Thank you." She gave him a bright smile, stood up, bowed and left.

He was left looking at the door and his face took a grave expression as he whispered in a quiet voice, "Anytime."

The Haruno left the dark office and looked around, assessing her surroundings for on their way here, she was actually deep in thought and only her subconscious was following Pein. Deciding that it didn't matter whether she got lost or not at this point, she redirected herself towards the hallway they _didn't _come from. She was surprised though when, at the end of the hallway, was a door.

Just a lone door.

It was made of heavy metal; she could see that it was well-kept, there was no rust at the edges or dents or anything really. Looking around for any seals, there was none. Shrugging her curiosity away, she just opened the door with little effort.

She immediately decided that this… was far by…

Her least favorite room.

It was the bijuu extraction chamber. She was now, actually, perched on a wall to the side of the demon statue above the ground. The door, if you were not careful, led you to a free fall. This was her first time actually seeing it. Gaara himself hadn't been able to perceive anything… when… you know.

Jumping down carefully onto the one of the ten fingers present, she suppressed a shiver. She turned to face the numerous eyes on the demon's face then the eyeballs. She shook her head and willed down the thoughts of Naruto and Gaara and all the jinchuuriki out there dying. She won't let that happen. Wiping away angry tears, she plopped herself down onto the finger cross-legged and meditated but soon enough… slumber called out to her.

That was how Itachi had found her two hours later, sleeping. He looked down onto her seemingly fragile form and shook his head. Kneeling down, he was about to touch her shoulder when her hand instinctively came up and held his wrist.

She immediately took her hand back and looked away.

He, however, took her chin in his fingers and made her look at him.

"You annoy me."

She resisted the urge to flinch and deck him.

"You annoy me… because no matter how hard I try… I cannot figure you out. Whenever I think I finally see the real you, you show me another one of your personalities. You confuse me. You're like a puzzle broken into, not just ten, not just one hundred, but _one thousand_ pieces." He stroked his finger from her chin to her cheek, "And, unfortunately, more than half of those pieces are still painted black to me."

While he was doing this, she didn't blink, she wasn't even breathing. The proximity of him and her was a tad bit on the close side, but she was cornered between him and the edge. She softly scoffed at herself. Maybe she had found herself an opening.

"I can give you the pieces… _Itachi_. But, I'm afraid it's up to you to put them together," she teased in challenge. "But…" she continued, she looked at his eyes, "You'll have to give me a few favors yourself." She put her hand up to stop his oncoming objection. "Three."

"Three," he repeated.

"Yes."

"And they would be…?"

"One… you're going to let me heal your eyes." He raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing, he had a feeling he knew what her second favor was going to be. "Two… you'll let me take care of that lung disease of yours." She stopped there though.

Itachi thought it over, "In exchange of information… you are demanding that you heal me?" he shook his head, "I'm afraid I do not see what profit it has for you."

Sakura laughed a little and ran a hand though her hair, "A clear conscience," she mumbled. She shrugged, "I guess… I'm just as curious about you as you are about me. But… some things are really just mean to stay hidden… and your past… I think, is one of them." She looked at him reproachfully, "I think there are too many skeletons in your closet… I take it literally and figuratively at that," she teased again and this time, she got a small twitch of the corners of his mouth.

"Alright then."

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**Hope you guys liked it and please review~**


	17. Stories

**Ok guys! Here's the 'quick' chap. seriously, I only meant for this to be less than 2000 and instead, I got so worked up in it that it passed the 3000 words! Ok, shutting up now. Please enjoy this chapter filled with ItaSaku goodness~**

**Oh and, for those who've been waiting for drama, the drama's coming... soon. There's definitely going to be something dramatic at the end of the Akatsuki Arc! **

**Disclaimer: Naruto no own.**

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**Chapter 15: Stories**

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And that was how they soon found themselves in Sakura's room; back into the positions they were that early morning a fortnight ago except that instead of the psychology couch, it was her bed he was laying on.

She prodded at his retinas, examining and reconstructing the dead cells. Though they had made a compromise, neither of them could really be comfortable with the situation. As far as she knew, he was still the man who murdered his whole clan, his own family members in cold blood. And she… was a just a young woman who suddenly appeared out of thin air, it seemed after rumors of her death had been circulating around.

"Simulacrum."

The Uchiha blinked and craned his head up to try to look at her, but she was averting her eyes down to her hands which now sent short bursts of chakra to his head from the tips of her fingertips. Itachi was a bit distracted at the feeling of her warm rejuvenating chakra sending healing jets through his head but listened. His eyes roved the room a bit, things weren't as sharp as they were before but she said it would take some time and more sessions before he could see sharply.

He watched as her face softened and a small, wistful smile appeared on her face, "Simulacrum," she repeated, "is my second home. I'm afraid I cannot give its placement… for I myself, do not really comprehend _where_ it is exactly. It is not a place you can just wander into like villages." She explained.

But, that is really irrelevant to me. It's one of the few places where man and nature can really live together. Somewhere that seemed so surreal that you have to pinch yourself once you step on its earth, just to make sure you're not dreaming. That's where I spent two years of my life." By now, she had stopped her healing and folded her hands in her lap while he sat up and put his back against the wall.

She closed her eyes and just looked through her memories, "Like I said, no one can really pinpoint where it is, but… finding it… being brought to it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. When I first arrived there," she giggled bit, "I had a multitude of shark pointy objects at my neck."

She told him about the first time she met Julious-sama and the others, the compromise she made with them and her training. Itachi had stayed silent throughout it all, though. Not one single comment.

"I think that they were doing it for my own good… but…" she sighed, "It just made me feel like I was before…" she cringed as the word left her mouth, "_weak_."

Silence.

"It's stupid."

She looked up for the first time since she began and gave him an angry look.

"What is?"

"You."

"_What?_" she bit out.

"You are very foolish, I believe." Before she could comment on that, he quickly continued, "You lean on other people too much."

She raised an eyebrow, demanding him to explain further.

"You left your village because your team left to find my foolish little brother. Without you." He stated, ignoring the flinch that passed her face at the mention of her so-called teammates. "You seek appraise from the people who underestimate you. You want to prove them wrong."

"Yes, that's correct. And in what is that so foolish? Please enlighten me oh intelligent one," she mocked, crossing her arms over her chest.

He ignored her comment and continued, "Why don't you start by believing in yourself first. You are so self-conscious and have such low self-esteem that you need other people to acknowledge your worth before you do."

She stayed silent.

"I'm right, aren't I?" he didn't even wait for a reply, the arrogant jerk, "Another one of your problems, you want to live to get appraise, to get recognition. Why don't you stop living your life for someone else and live it for your own."

He stood up from the bed and walked towards the door when a soft, defeated voice reached his ears. It was quiet, but his sharp sense of hearing caught it.

"Don't you think I've tried?"

He stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. She turned away from him.

"Well, I hope that some of the pieces are starting to make sense to you, Uchiha-san. Now, if you'll excuse me." She stood up and made her way to the bathroom, locking it.

Maybe he went a little too far?  
No, he was only stating the truth… and everyone know the truth hurts.  
But then… why was he suddenly regretting his words?

He had a mental debate with himself but in the end, he was just going to stay here and confront her later. He took a seat in the chair near the desk, careful not to step onto the wooden board. He closed his eyes and let his senses take over.

He could hear the bath water going and after a few minutes, it stopped. The distinct sound of sloshing water informed him that she had gotten in. The walls were actually very thin. He could even hear her breathing.

Sakura sighed as she submerged herself even more into the almost boiling hot water. She thought about what Itachi had said. It was true… in a sense. She really was living her life based on what people thought of her. Sure, she said and promised herself she would get stronger and show them. But, that was the problem. She should've made that promise to become stronger to herself because she _wanted_ to, not because a third party commented on her lack of strength.

_I'm pathetic. _She resumed. Taking a deep breath, she submerged herself in the water. Once inside, with a swish of her hand, an air bubble was around her mouth and nose. Before, when she was feeling out of it and just needec some time alone, she would just submerge herself in the nearest and preferably biggest body of water (i.e: the lake in Simulacrum) and just stay underwater for an indefinite amount of time to cool off. This wasn't the same, but it was close enough.

It gave her a sense of homeliness.

Apparently, she didn't account on how much time she actually spent under when suddenly, she was abruptly yanked out of the water. She quickly opened her eyes to see that she was being held by Itachi Uchiha. His hands were gripping her upper arm so hard that she just knew it was going to eave a bruise.

"_What do you think you were doing_?" he hissed lowly at her, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

It took a while for her mind to process his question, oh no, her mind was still at the 'Itachi freaking Uchiha's in my bathroom' phase.

"Uh…" was her oh so intelligent response. She really should get an award for that.

A few very awkward and embarrassing moments later…

Sakura sat on her bed with a cream bath robe on, toweling her hair. One of her legs was resting on top of the other, her posture was stiff and she dared not look him in the eye anymore. He was leaning on the wall near her door with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"What were you trying to do?" he asked, his voice masking any emotion.

I was _trying_ to take a nice peaceful bath until a certain someone _ruined_ it all," she snapped.

He glared at her, "You were trying to drown yourself." He stated.

"I was not!" she huffed then added in a low murmur, "But I'm starting to think I should have."

And, of course, being the half blind genius he is, he heard, "You have problems. You should go and get yourself healed." He stated seriously.

She turned and glared at him, "Tch, yeah, this coming from the man who slaughtered his whole family in cold blood to prove himself."

Yes, that was definitely below the belt.

In the next second, she found herself pinned to the wall above her bed by her neck. His large hand covered the most part of her neck and was slowly tightening his hold.

"You know _nothing_," he hissed quite dangerously at her.

Disregarding the very hazardous situation she was in. Again. She continued on with half a breath. "I know that you killed your own blood," squeeze, "your… best friend," tightening, "the woman… who gave… life to you." By now, her face was red from the lack of air.

"But... the only thing I don't know… is why you still keep on living."

That was when all motion stopped.

"What?" he slackened his hold a bit to give her air to explain herself more.

She took a shaky breath, "You've lost everything. You family, your title, your village. Even your brother. And still… you keep on living. Why?" her eyes softened, "During these few months, I've been analyzing the lot of you. At the end, I came to the conclusion that you all weren't really what you seemed to be. You are hiding something from the world. And only a person who is hiding something as well can really recognize each other. That's why you have this… insatiable curiosity about me… and me of you."

By now his grip had dropped.

"And… you were right. I had everything. A loving family, friends, a reputation. And I left. For what? For someone who doesn't even acknowledge my existence and for the people who look down on me." She scoffed at herself, "I realized a long time ago that I was pathetic that way. I was making my own misery by being like this. But…" she smiled sadly.

"I kind of like its company. Misery understood me; sadness gave me a home and loneliness kept me warm in its embrace. You are like that, too. And… from watching you… I refuse to believe that you did all those sinful things. You are not that kind of person."

Silence.

"And how do you know that? How do you know that I didn't kill them?" he asked emotionlessly.

She gave him a wry smile, "No, I believe you killed them, yes. But… I don't believe you did it of your of accord." He stiffened, she smiled.

He had been found out.

"How do you know of that?" he hissed. He had a guess that, since she was the Godaime's apprentice, she had a sort of free access to the forbidden scroll room where that information was safely hidden away from the world, never to be brought out.

She smirked.

Then he knew he'd been played. It was a trap. And he fell for it.

She _didn't_ know. She didn't know _anything_. But judging from his reaction… he had already given her the confirmation of the truth. And she knew that.

She slowly slid down the wall and sighed, "When I had been under Tsunade's apprenticeship, I was often in the forbidden scroll room. One day… Tsunade had ordered me to bring back a box of some new scrolls. I was very clumsy back then and I bumped into the third bookshelf of the second row." She paused a bit, closing her eyes, remembering the scene.

"I had bumped into it and the seventh book from the fifth shelf fell. And, to grand surprise, it hid a secret compartment. Me, being very curious and always looking for new knowledge, I opened it and inside, I found an aged scroll. It was bound with an S-class seal which took me three weeks to undo. I found that it was the Sandaime who had written it. It had a few stories from his point of view of major events of Konoha."

She then looked up to meet his gaze, "In the midst of all that, I found two sentences. Barely even so! It was short, strict and I never really paid any attention to it until recently. It said:

_Uchiha Clan planning a coup d'état. Elimination._

So, my question is as follows, are you willing to tell me the truth?"

He looked at her long and hard, "Why?"

She sighed, "I am not here to force it out of you, Uchiha-san," she said sincerely, "I just want to… comprehend how you're able to live like this," she looked away.

"I live because I still have something to live for," he slowly answered. She looked up and suddenly, he was kneeling in front of her and her hand unconsciously flew to her neck. Hey, don't blame her; the last two times he suddenly appeared in front of her, one of his hands was chocking her.

Itachi felt a little guilty when he saw what she did. He resisted sighing loudly and instead gently took hold of her wrist and lowered it. He didn't like what he saw. And the worse thing was that he was the one to inflict it to her. The top part of her neck was red from the recent chocking session and the lower part was already bruising into hand shaped blue marks.

He ran his fingers across them eliciting a small gasp from her which immediately sobered him up. He was getting soft. Because of a woman no less!

"I was loyal more loyal to my village than my family. But… more so to Sasuke," he explained. "My father wanted the power. Overthrow the Hokage and the Uchiha Clan would be in absolute power. They started planning the coup and, as the heir, I was supposed to sit and plan as well. All of the Uchiha clan members, save a few members were for it. Frankly, it wasn't a difficult choice to make between the Clan and Konoha. So I told the Sandaime about the coup d'état and he started planning a counter attack. Which included me.

The deal was, I get rid of every single clan member, including my family and I would be considered as a hero. But when the day came…" he stopped.

Sakura's eyes widened in realization, "You didn't kill Sasuke. You… gave everything up… for him." She said slowly, like she didn't quite process everything. Which was the case. She ran a hand through her hair as she leaned back onto the wall.

"Does it shock you that much?"

She laughed humorlessly, "You gave up everything for someone else, someone, who right now, is trying to kill you, someone who doesn't even know what you sacrificed for him. You tell him to hate you. Order him to try and kill you. Why?"

"Only then would I be relived of my sin," he answered. He suddenly felt a sharp sting on his left cheek. She had slapped him. She was angry. Oh so very angry.

"Don't give me that crap," she hissed at him, "we're shinobi. If we gave a year of our lives for every person we've killed, we'd already be long gone. They made a choice to commit treason, you tried t stop it. As a shinobi loyal to its village, no matter what happened that night, you should've been able to go a free man."

He scoffed; Sakura was first surprised at the sudden show of emotion but said nothing of it, "Like you said Haruno-san. We're shinobi. We don't play by the rules. _We're merciless, cold-blooded murders_," he bit out every word of his last sentence, hoping it would stay in her head.

She just shook her head, "And do you know why we're like that? It's because we are willing to give up our own lives to protect others."

She hesitantly reached her hand out and placed it on his cheek, "Like you protected Sasuke." Itachi reveled in the warmth of her hand and resisted the urge to lean into it.

And with that, soon they found themselves lying on their sides, facing each other on the bed. They finally understood each other now. Fully. And that's all they were asking for.

Some comfort from someone who understands.

She ran her hand lazily though his silky hair, getting rid of the hair tie. She was so preoocupied with his long, beautiful, silky hair that she didn't notice that his gaze was on her. His eyes softened when a small, genuine smile appeared on her face.

_She's really something else. _He thought. _How were you able to get through to me? _He asked her mentally.

She turned to him and her smile widened.

That day, Uchiha Itachi fell in love with one Haruno Sakura.

Sakura continued running her hand through his hair as she slowly began to put him to sleep. She laughed at the irony of things. Here she was, being so close to the person that her former crush despised so much. Now that she knew the truth, her loathing for Sasuke had started to grow.

She looked at the beautiful man's features. His slightly angular face was pale and smooth under her touch. She gently traced the tear troughs of stress under his eyes. She had, of course, read about the genius of Konoha and she couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of stress and pressure he went through during his childhood days.

She put her fingers lightly against the side of his head and closed her eyes. He was dreaming. But… as the dream went on, her face scrunched up and a deep frown marred her face.

Nightmares.

Nothing but nightmares plagued his nights. Red blood, kunai, katanas, corpses were everywhere… it was a real purgatory. She quickly retracted her hand. By the information she got from his brain, he always had dreams like these. No wonder the poor man looks so tired every morning.

She pulled out the drawstring pouch from in between her chest and opened it up. She took a magnificent onyx tinted blue gem from it. She examined it for a minute.

Tranquility.

She looked over to the sleeping man. That was what he needs. She smiled a bit before repositioning herself, taking his head into her arms so her chin was touching his forehead and his face at the crook of her neck. Tightening her hold on him for a few seconds, both of them began to glow a soft dark blue.

Itachi's senses alerted him that something went amiss. He would never, ever, in his life, fall asleep in the presence of someone. It was a dangerous thing to do I his line of work. He quickly opened his eyes to be met up with warm flesh. He could also pinpoint some pink along with it.

Had he fallen asleep in her company?

He stayed rigid in her embrace but soon enough; the arms around his head loosened and fell away. The pinkette moved away and mumbled a quiet sorry. Obviously he had woken her up.

"What did you do?" he demanded accusingly.

She smiled comfortingly, "I just gave you some peace in your sleep for once." She answered, her voice cracked a bit.

He racked his brain on that and noticed that he was not at all fatigued. He was just feeling a little groggy. In fact, he's never felt… so fresh after waking up. He was taken away form his thoughts when he felt something being pushed into his palm. He looked down to find that she had given him one of her gems.

"These have very… mysterious properties. Depending on each one, it has many different special abilities. This particular one took me ages to find. It's called Otium. It means tranquility in my language."

"Tranquility. Why are you giving this to me? And you are certain it works?"

She giggled, "You need it more than I do. I used it when nightmares plagued me as well, the first few months in Simulacrum. Well, it's either that or maybe because you felt a little too comfortable in my embrace," she teased.

He smirked, "Maybe…" He knew she was sincere. But, giving him one of the things that she had almost killed for was… touching. Something he rarely felt here where the testosterones were suffocating the air.

Her smile faded away into a gape and she let out a small squeak before stumbling over her bed, "W-Well t-then… I-I'm just gonna… um… go get something to eat… do, do you want anything?" she asked meekly.

He nodded, his very sexy smirk still in place, "I'd like a 'Sakura' with a side of chocolate," he purred.

Needless to say she bolted her face very, very, very red from the insinuation of his sentence.

Oh… things were going to get a lot more interesting in the Akatsuki.

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**Well, thank you for reading everyone and please review! It could be your Christmas gift to little old me! If you don't review in this chap though, please review in the Christmas chap coming out tomorrow and the New Years as well!**

**Well, Happy Holidays everyone!**


	18. Gifts

**Hey guys! First of all I wish you all a (late) Merry Christmas! Haha, it was only this morning that I woke up, ready to partay when I suddenly remembered "shit didn't even start it yet!" so here I am, at 11pm posting this on before it's too late! **

**Yeah, oh my god, this chap is 7000 words, double the regular maximum! Yay me! I just got so carried away! I even thought of making it a twoshot but I decided to just keep it in one whole package! A gift to all my faithful readers! So, let me just tell you that there will be no updates until the New Years chapter because, seriously, I'm tired! And I'll be leaving on vacation with no internet T_T but Ive asked one of my friends to post it up for me on Jan 1st!**

**Anyways, Merry Christmas everybody and I hope you enjoyed this joyous day! I think I ate too much chocolate though...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, believe it!**

**Oh yeah, PS: this actually counts as a real chapter and not just a special!**

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**Chapter 16: Gifts**

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Deidara sulked in the corner of the living room, playing idly with his clay. Oh how he wanted to blow something up real badly… He turned his head, narrowed his eyes and scowled.

Especially their resident Uchiha.

He would just love to stick the clay bomb up that freaking prick's a-

"Deidara?"

He quickly looked up to meet the pinkette's confused gaze, "What're doing? Planting mushrooms in dark corners?" she joked with a smile.

He couldn't resist reciprocating her smile as well but then she gave him a worried look, "Now, seriously, what's the matter? I've never seen you like this. Angry, yes, annoyed, yes… but never brooding." she squatted down to his level since he was sitting, facing the small mushroom inhabited corner.

He sighed and shrugged, "Someone's just getting on my nerves, un." He ran around the bush, he didn't just turn, he ran.

One day Itachi and Sakura were ignoring each other's mere existence then, a while later, without any reason that they knew of, they became buddy-buddy again. Even worse! They're closer than before! I mean seriously, the two must really be PMSing.

"Oh? Don't tell me Hidan turned your walls pink again," she said.

Deidara chuckled and shook his head from side to side, "No, it's not him, un." Then he scowled at that particular memory of his room having to be bleached white because the neon pink wouldn't go away. They tried to paint over it with white but it turned a pale pink. Even now, his room had a small tint of pink when the light caught it.

Sakura put a finger to her chin, "You and Sasori-san argued again?" Shake.

She sighed, "Then what's wrong? I don't like seeing you like this… you should be your energetic self. I like you better that way." She confessed.

Deidara felt like things were finally looking up and shot up straight. Sakura fell backwards from the sudden action but quickly stopped the fall by putting her hands behind her.

"Ah! Sakura-chan, I'm sorry, un!" he immediately held out a hand for her to take. She just giggled as she accepted his offer and he pulled her up easily.

"No worries," she answered. He smiled. Sakura's heart clenched at that. Blond hair, blue eyes, energetic. Oh how he reminded her so much of Naruto… it was almost painful. She forced a small smile, "So, got any plans for Christmas? It's only a week away." She asked him, dusting off her bottom.

Deidara blinked, "Christmas, un?" he glanced around the room once, finding that Kisame, Itachi and Kakuzu were there, seemingly minding their own business. Yeah, right. The bastards were probably listening in to their conversation. "Um… I have… a project for it. Wanna come to my room and see, un?" he quickly made up, wanting to be alone with her.

Sakura nodded, "Sure."

Deidara smirked triumphantly as he enlaced his hand to hers and dragged her out of the room, earning him two glares and a mischievous grin. I think we all know who gave what.

Itachi tried to look indifferent as Deidara and Sakura conversed amicably. _They certainly get a long well. _He thought almost bitterly. He glanced at them from his book every so often and narrowed his eyes when Deidara proposed for them to go to his room to 'look at his Christmas project'.

Kakuzu scowled as he heard every word of their conversation. Hey, it wasn't eavesdropping; the two were talking so loud that you didn't even need to strain your ears! His purple eyes followed the two closely as they left, giving the blond a warning glare. Not a glance, a glare.

Kisame gave Deidara a grin and a discreet thumbs up. Then he sighed at the dark aura that suddenly emitted from the room. He had hoped that with the recent argument, his partner would have completely ignored the troublesome woman. But, Itachi Uchiha was never one to be predictable. Nor was this Konoha nin. So, going against all sense of logic, the two were very friendly again.

Too friendly.

Sure, the pinky was oblivious to the not-so-obvious interest that most of the members held for her. But he had the distinct feeling that she knew of Itachi's. Whenever she met his eyes nowadays, she would quickly turn away, flustered. Well, he wasn't going to get caught in it. He would prefer just to sit by and laugh at the poor guys who didn't have a clue how to woo a woman.

The pair finally got to the artist's room and Sakura took this chance to look around. He walls were white with a hint of pink when the rays of light from the makeshift window hit it. It mainly consisted of a large work table that started at one end of the east wall to the other. On top of it, of course, was clay, messily scattered everywhere though was a bag of flour and different colored jars. His bed was queen sized and was on the opposite wall of the large table. There were various shelves bolted to the walls at chest level filled with dried up sculptures.

Those are what she examined first and was really awed by them. There were his combat models, the regular birds and spiders. Then there were more unusual ones: bats, snakes, even ants. She gently ran her finger across each one as her eyes passed them. She stopped at a certain one though.

It wasn't anything extraordinary per se. Oh no; it was actually the simplest thing here. This is maybe why she was attracted to it. Simplicity had its own beauty after all. It wasn't an animal, it didn't look like any of the others. But she loved it. It seemed like it had a lot of value for the artist for it was placed on top of cotton.

A pair of wings.

They were just a simple pair of bird's wings unattached to a body. They were connected at a certain point where a bird's body should be but was not. The wings were traced delicately and was almost symmetrical.

It was aged.

She didn't even lay a finger on it, fearing that it would crumble at her touch. It had smears of dirt here and there and wasn't the polished white everything else was. It was a light grey, making a contrast to the white cotton and some of the edges were chipped.

"You like it, un?" he asked, moving behind her.

She nodded, "Yeah. It's beautiful."

He chuckled, "You think it's beautiful? Well, thank you, un. It was my first real masterpiece,un," he told her.

"Really?"

He nodded and a sad smile made way to his face, "When I was little, people tended to stay away from me because of these, un," he put his hands palm faced upwards to show the mouths on them. "In Iwa, they are very paranoid and always question every single person –shinobi and civilian alike- before they can enter. I was an orphan and I wandered the streets all day, stealing what I can, un." He looked at his hands melancholically, "Back then, I thought of these as a curse and not a gift, un."

Flashback…

_The seven year old Deidara ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, holding a basket of stolen goods. He made a sharp turn and gave a smirk when the people following him smacked against the wall then tripped over each other._

_After a few complicated turns around the market place, he finally found the alleyway and turned towards it, jumping up excitedly over the wall and landing down onto an old and used mattress that somebody had thrown away long ago. He put his basket down first and pulled his sheet shelter up and hooked it to four points on the walls surrounding him. He then got up onto the wall again and started to put cardboard on top of his makeshift roof. _

_Once that was done, he slipped back into his little home and plopped down onto the mattress, excitedly emptying the worn basket of his goods for the day. _

"_Let's see… apples, carrots, oh! Sugar! And… what's this, un?" he picked up a sealed plastic bag full of squishy white stuff. He shrugged and decided to see if it was edible. _

_Nope._

_It definitely wasn't. He immediately spit it out and wiped his mouth, willing the bitter taste to go away. Then, something peculiar happened. The mouths started to make chewing noises. Deidara looked at them for a minute before turning his gaze back to the clay. He experimentally took some into his hands and watched in amazed silence as his mouth started to chew it vigorously and before long, spit it out. Now, on his hand was a perfect sphere made of clay, no teeth marks or anything of the sort. He held it up to his face with grin. For the rest of the day, he had experimented with the clay and his mouths until all the clay was used up._

_That's when everything started. Instead of just stealing food, he also stole some clay and ever found out how to make it. _

_Deidara sat on top of the a small cliff, looking over Iwa. He laid down, facing the semi cloudy sky and smiled. He stretched an arm above him and smiled. _

"_I wish I knew how to fly… un…" he turned his mouth towards him, "That way, I could get out of here and travel the world. I'll never have to come back here again, un!" The tongue moved around, agreeing with its master. The little blond then put his hand into a small pouch of clay and just lay still as he felt his mouth do its thing. _

_He knew it was finished when he felt something in his hand. He pulled it out and blinked at the small wings sitting on his lap. A grin broke onto his face and he laughed, "Wings! You guys are right! I could just make the biggest wings and fly away from here, un!"_

_End flashback_

"That was my first masterpiece. Soon after, old Onoki, the third Tsuchikage, found me and decided to train me himself after realizing that I had potential to become a shinobi. I don't think you need to hear the rest though, un."

The rosette grimaced at how he had lived his life at such a young age. She felt guilty for having a home and loving 'parents'. She really felt grateful that she had food to eat everyday, clothes on her body and a roof over her head. And to think that she realized this because of an S-class criminal.

Oh the irony.

"You've been through a lot, it seems."

He nodded, "Yep, those were actually the best times of my life, un."

"I've had dreams of flying, too. I wished to just leave the ground and see if the clouds were as fluffy as they seemed and that maybe I could get some and use it as a pillow." They both laughed at that.

Sakura nodded and looked on fondly at the object, "I've never been too artistic. Most of my drawings were disasters," she confessed with humor. "Now my mother… she was talented. If only I could show you her works. She was amazing. She could make anything seem more beautiful than it actually was."

"I would've liked to meet her then, un," he told her sincerely and added a grin.

Her heart pounded in her chest again as it constricted little by little. They were so alike. Knowing just what to say when she was feeling a little down.

"You okay, Sakura-chan, un?"

Sakura-chan… oh god.

Her breathing sped up a little and forced a smile, "I… well… um… I need a little fresh air. See ya later, 'kay?"

The blue-eyed sighed sadly, "Yeah, un. See ya later, un." He knew she wouldn't stay in his room for the rest of the day. He had hoped. What foolishness. The first thing a ninja should learn was to never hope.

Never hope.

But, as she was walking towards the door, she suddenly turned and marched back to him. She stood on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Thanks for sharing with me." And she left.

The terrorist bomber just stood there, putting a hand to the cheek that she had just kissed with a stupid grin on his face. Maybe it wasn't good to hope… but whoever said anything about wishing? He looked back at his ultimate favorite work and said a thanks to it.

The young 16 year old made her way through the corridors, looking for the exit. After a few minutes of going back on her steps and taking wrong turns, she finally found the exit and reveled in the cool breeze that passed by.

Thankfully, it was one of those rare days in Ame where it wasn't raining, but no sun could be seen, either. It was just an endless sky of gray. It was a real shame that she couldn't cloud watch here. It always calmed her, less than a scalding hot or freezing cold shower, but it still did the trick.

She was taken out of thinking of the different ways she relaxed when she heard the distinct sound of metal clashing against metal. The terrain was mostly wet grass and the ground was almost always humid. Sometimes you could slip in mud or just slip on the slippery ground below. The exit though was a safe distance away from the nearest village and surrounded by trees that grew along the base of the mountain.

She followed the sound and found the one who was making it. Sasori stood in the middle of a clearing of trees, his eyes were closed and kunai were levitated around him with his chakra strings and his eyes were closed. Suddenly, two on the kunai shot forward and Sakura wondered what they were aiming at because Sasori had a pleased look on his face as he retracted the weapons close to his body again.

After watching the same action two more times, she finally understood. She looked up to the trees and listened carefully. A glint took her attention and she watched as a lone rain drop slowly rolled down off a leaf and left. But not a second later, it popped at the contact of Sasori's kunai.

He was catching rain drops.

She just watched in awe as not a single drop made it to the floor before it was dealt with by Sasori.

"Want to try instead of just watching me?" he asked, his eyes still closed. She blinked and didn't answer him. He then opened his eyes lazily and lifted his gaze to her, "Well?" Without waiting for an answer, he chucked a kunai her way.

Of course, she caught it with ease, twirling it expertly, "I am not familiar with the works of chakra strings," she told him.

A this, he raised a red eyebrow, "And here I thought you were smart as to look up these things."

She huffed indignantly, "Of course I did. And I know how to perform it… in theory," she added lamely.

"Now's your chance. I'm not only known as an expert in poison but one of the few masters of the puppet technique."

Sakura smirked, "Okay, oh modest one." Then the smirk dissipated as she looked at her fingers. She easily put chakra into each tip… but now came the complex part: forming the chakra threads. It was a little sloppy at first but went smoothly after the first feet. Hey, she wasn't known for her perfect chakra control for nothing!

Satisfied with the length, she went on to the next step and tried to stick it to something, easy enough. Now came the moment of truth, she twitched her fingers like she saw the man before her do so many time before. The kunai jumped up but then fell back down.

She sweat-dropped then scowled when an amused and superior smirk etched onto the puppet master's face. She cut off the threads, huffed, crossed her arms and looked to her side. His smirk widened.

"The Puppet technique isn't for everyone after all. Come. We will find something else more to your liking." He said, brushing past her.

She seriously didn't like the arrogance that emitted from the used to be dead guy. But, nevertheless, she followed him.

To his room.

Out of the three rooms, including this one, that she has seen so far, this was by far, the messiest and most crowded. Everywhere you looked were puppets, puppets, and more puppets. Large pieces of bark were piled against one wall and there was a workshop, much like Deidara's filling one side of the wall. She must admit that it did give her the creeps. The dark colored walls weren't helping either.

When she walked in, she made sure where she stepped because even the floor was full of arm, leg and even eyeball pieces. She looked up to see Sasori waiting for her by another door. He opened the said door and she had to momentarily close her eyes because of the sheer brightness of the room. When she opened them, Sasori had already entered.

She quickly made her way towards the said room and grimaced when she saw that the walls were bleached white, it reminded her too much of the Konoha Hospital for her liking. She stopped looking at the walls and finally analyzed what was in the room and she gaped.

Marble science tables were in aligned rows in the room; on each of them were glass test tubes, beakers and mixing supplies. Shelves were on the whole front wall filled with various screwed bottles filled with different colored liquid. He western wall was also full of shelves but this time it had large glass containers full of herbs and plants.

This had just become her favorite room.

"This is my personal laboratory," he explained as the girl excitedly roamed through the shelves. "Here is where I make my poisons."

"This is simply amazing. I have never encountered such an advanced laboratory. Not even Konoha has half of the materials you have here," she remarked as she examined one of the machines.

"Indeed, Akatsuki has long been affiliated with people with advanced technologies, though we rarely use them, if ever." He explained while scanning his poison collection. He stopped at a certain one and with a nod he carefully took it off the shelf. "Now, I hear you're a genius in poison antidotes." He turned to her and she blinked at him. He put the small glass container on the la table in front of him and smirked, "See if you can find an antidote for this one." He challenged.

Sakura smirked, "Fine. Challenge accepted."

Sakura got right to work on examining every part of the poison. After that, she made a note of all the ingredients that might have been used and of course, what other ingredient to annul the effect. Once she was finished with her sheet she looked around the shelves with the herbs, each container had its content's name scribbled on tape, and took what she thought she would need. Now came the time wasting part, mixing and matching.

It would take her forty five more minutes to find the correct matches to completely annul every single hazardous portion of the poison.

Sasori just watched her work then sighed. She really was a genius when it came to _curing_ the poisons. His expression darkened as he thought about the result if she made her own poisons. With her knowledge, it was highly possible that she had the potential of concocting a poison so complex that no one would be able to make an antidote for it before it was too late and the person would die.

"Sakura-san," she looked up at her name, "Have you ever thought about making poisons?" he asked.

Her eyes rolled up, thinking, then shook her head and with a gentle smile answered him, "I prefer making antidotes."

He rolled his eyes, "Why do you do me a favor and just stop thinking like a medic-nin and for once, think like a shinobi."

She took that as a criticism and frowned. The ex-Suna nin shook his head, "Just try it." Then he left.

Sasori came back to his lab to find her sitting down on one of the stools, taking some herbs, grinding it into powder then adding it to the water mix in front of her. He looked from behind her shoulder and saw that she was actually concocting a new poison; using the one she found the antidote to as a base.

He looked down at her and blinked when he saw a small smile on her face, she looked up at him when his shadow passed over the table but frowned when she saw a smug look cross his face.

She huffed and went back to her work.

"And you just said that you could only cure it. Not make it. But here I am, finding you smiling while making a poison."

Sakura reddened, "Yeah, yeah, so what?"

Sasori came up and inspected the poison, "Sloppy. Did you just put random things in here?" he asked her. Her reddened cheeks told him everything. He shook his head, "Making poison is as delicate as making antidotes, Sakura. You have to concentrate and make the right matches for it to be effective. Now, throw that away and start anew." The rest of the day, Sakura was in Sasori's laboratory, trying to make a new poison.

The pinkette did not know it but the two artists found exactly what to offer her for Christmas.

The next day…

Sakura rubbed her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness still present. She had spent most of the night working on her poison and she just needed to smell something else than plants and acid all days. For her first poison, Sasori deemed it "acceptable", it really wasn't anything spectacular, even he, who was not a medic could find the antidote in less than a half hour, he said.

Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she looked around, Itachi and Kisame were off on a mission, and so were Sasori and Deidara. Kakuzu and Hidan would be at their usual places, in their rooms, counting money and doing bloody rituals, respectively.

No one was in the dining room, well, it was already nine in the morning. She leaned her hip against the table as she sipped her favorite kind of beverage.

"Sakura-san," she look up, mid-sip to find her leader standing there, "You just woke up?" he asked.

She laughed sheepishly, "Yeah, I kind of got carried away last night."

"Yes, Sasori told me he would teach you more about making poisons," he remembered the brief report he got. He looked up at the young woman. It was getting slightly warm inside the base so she kept her cloak open. Why the hell did Konan have to get her something… so formfitting? It was like a glove.

"Pein-sama?" she called out.

His eyes met hers and he nodded, signaling her that he was listening, "Well, I was wondering when I'd be able to go one missions as well."

He smirked, "You've finally decided to go out?" he asked.

She sighed, "Well, there's really nothing to do in here, is there?"

Pein nodded, "Well, all of the mission for now have all been accomplished or already taken. I'll be sure to get more request in the near future."

Sakura nodded slightly, "Hai… thank you, Pein-sama."

They stood there in silence for a bit.

"Since you are free for the moment, would you mind helping me with something?"

Sakura blinked. "Of course!"

So there they were, Pein quietly doing his paperwork while she shifted through books to find the right information on some specific topics that need to be cleared up.

Pein glanced up at the young woman every so often. He knew it was very dangerous to let her in his office where all the important scrolls were but… he just found her very intriguing.

"You and Itachi seem to have gotten over your differences," he remarked casually. He was internally seething in jealousy that the Uchiha had her attention.

She paused in what she was doing for a minute, "Yes. We realized that we have many things in common. It's always better to share things with someone who understands."

She really wasn't realizing that she was just pushing the knife deeper into his chest, does she? She already stabbed him with it the moment she seemed to prefer the Uchiha. Then she slowly began to push it in with every appealing comment regarding the said Sharingan wielder.

"Do you trust him?" he asked.

Sakura stopped again, this time, she didn't directly answer, and her bangs fell over her eyes as she worded her phrase carefully, "Itachi is just someone who understands, but understanding someone doesn't mean you have to trust them."

She was very intelligent. She was able to word out her sentence carefully as to show that she didn't trust him… but neither does it show the contrary. A double edged answer.

Very cunning.

He wasn't really concentrated in his paperwork anymore. He instead surveyed her as she caught sight of a particular book of poems. Probably one of Konan's that she forgot here.

He watched the expressions that flitted across her face as she turned the pages.

"You like poetry?' he inquired.

She hummed in appreciation, "Oh, yes, I love literary works." She then had melancholic expression on her face, "I was always stronger in theory and less than average in actual hands on experience. I only barely graduated from the academy because of my brain."

He raised an eyebrow, "But how is that so? You are very skilled in taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu."

"Well, I wasn't like that before. When I was little, I was always picked on because of my weird hair color and back then, my forehead was too big for my face. I never really had any friends at that young age."

_Flashback…_

_Little six year-old Sakura ran away as quickly as she could with tears in her eyes. Not even looking where she was going she wrenched open a door and entered it, quickly closing it as she heard the small, scurried footsteps of her bullied go past her hiding place._

_Making no noise at all, for fear of being found out, she dried her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She then looked around to where she had hidden herself. She blinked when all she could see were very tall shelves aligned with books. She gasped when she saw how tall it was and fell onto her bottom, just to try and comprehend the immenseness of it._

_She looked form left to right and calmed down when she saw that she was in the library. She probably went through the back door. She found the door which was supposed to lead her to the main library, because it seemed like she had landed in one of the specialized libraries. _

_When she tried to open the door, she found and it was locked. Panicking, she quickly started pounding her little fists on the door but no one came. Then she started to cry loudly… _

_But no one came._

_She sobbed and stepped back little by little until she accidentally hit one of the shelves and books started falling. By instinct, she put her hands up defensively above her head as the rain of books started. When there was no more noise, she opened one of her eyes and saw the mess she had made. She sighed. Mother always told her clean up her messes._

_So with a sad sigh, she began picking up the books and setting them back, at least, to the shelves that she could actually reach. While putting each one back, she read the titles. She came to realize that these were ninja books._

_Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to just take a peek, she took one entitled 'Famous Genjutsus of the Fire Country' and decided to read._

_She was amazed by all the things shinobi could do and was even more excited to actually become one. So she read, and read and read until there was nothing left to read in her small haven._

_Then, when she thought there was nothing else to read, the librarian had found her one day and asked what she was doing in here. Reading was the obvious answer. The librarian shook her head, saying that she shouldn't even be in here and took her out of the room._

_And just like that, her little haven became a real heaven. Beautiful knowledge aligned perfectly, just begging for her to take it and discover its stories, secrets and mysteries._

_And just like that, she had found a second home._

_End flashback_

"Other than my own room, the library was my favorite place to be at. Whenever I got the free time, I would rush over there, pick out a book and go into the room I ended up in. It became my private little space. When I was about 12, I began getting interested in poetry, sonnets and etc. Mostly because most of them talked about love." She shook her head at the memory of her taking out quotes and poems to write in pink perfumed cards to deliver to her 'Sasuke-kun'.

The now older Sakura looked at the book in her hands with a smile, "But then, I grew up. And I found that poetry was not only for love and romance. It hid also hid a dark side. It could describe pain, sorrow, loneliness… some of the poems even hit right home. And I silently thank whoever made the poems for… just understanding me. It was all that I really needed." And she continued in a sorrowful tone, "It's what I still need."

Suddenly, she found herself encased in a pair of strong arms, "Then let me try to understand you, Sakura." He whispered, not willing to make ye contact so he pushed her head onto his shoulder. "You're just too complicated for anyone to truly understand you." He stated. "But despite that, I'm willing to listen to you, to help you to try to comprehend your pain."

Giving into the gesture, she put her arms up under his arms so her hands were touching his shoulder blade. "Thank you…"

A few days later… Christmas!

Sakura turned in her sleep then grimaced when something poked her forehead. It was very pointy and would leave a scratch. She opened her eyes to find a wrapped box in front of her face. She quickly sat up, looking around, feeling for the kunai under her pillow. Relaxing when she realized just where she was. She then looked down onto the green wrapped gift.

She shifted and was about to take it when she felt another poke near her thigh. She turned around to find a pile of gifts on her bed. She laughed; she really couldn't believe her eyes.

All of them had the same exact idea.

Well, everyone else thought it would be just fun to sneak into poor little Sakura's room and drop off presents. Well, she actually had the sense to leave it in front of their door. Ninjas will be ninjas after all.

There was an exaggerated knock at her door before it swung open to reveal Tobi draped in flashing Christmas lights. "Merry Christmas, Sakurachan! Everyone's already up and waiting for you in the lving room! Come on~ and bring your presents!"

Sakura couldn't argue with the man as she gathered up half of the gifts and Tobi decided to be a gentleman and took the other half. She was then dragged along the halls, in her pajamas no less; which, mind you, consisted of nothing but a baggy t-shirt and panties. I repeat, _only_ consisted of a baggy t-shirt and lacey panties.

When she arrived in the living room, true to Tobi's words, everyone was already present. Kakuzu was calculating on how much they all spent on gifts, Kisame was enjoying a nice early morning sake, Sasori and Deidara were arguing about art again, Itachi was quietly drinking tea with Pein, Konan was preparing something on a tray, even the ever so absent Zetsu was present, arguing with himself and Hidan had no fucking idea about what's going on.

"Sakura-chan's here!" Tobi sang as they entered the room. Immediately, eight pairs of eyes turned to her. Pein noticed the lack of clothing and glared at 'Tobi' before standing up and going towards their medic. He took off his cloak and draped it around her shoulders before guiding her to a free space next on the loveseat.

Itachi and Sasori silently seethed while Deidara outwardly showed his distaste by glaring at the poor loveseat. He didn't dare glare at their supreme 'God'.

"Now that we're all here," Konan started, "I think we could get on with opening presents."

The green light was given and the Akatsuki erupted in ripping and scratching as wrapping paper flew up into the air like confetti.

Hidan's yell stopped everything though. All eyes turned to the Jashinist who seemed to still be half awake. "What the fuck is all this crap!" he demanded.

"It's Christmas, Hidan-san!" Tobi answer in a matter-of-factly tone.

Hidan blinked once. Twice. Thrice. "The fuck is that?"

Everyone looked at him incredulously.

"You're… kidding right?" Kisame was the first to voice out his comment. Hidan scowled at him.

"Do you think I would be involved in a fucking pansy tradition as this? Exchanging gifts, eating cookies and all that merry, merry crap!"

Touché.

Konan sighed, "Well, you're welcome to leave, Hidan. No one's forcing you to be here." She said wryly.

"Tch," then he grumble something under his breath but plopped down onto the recliner once more. Everyone went back to their business.

Okay, we'll just skip to what Sakura got because most of the other's gifts don't count. Some blew up *cough*Deidara*cough*, others bit, where in the five shinobi countries did Tobi find live piranhas? And some… were so cheap that it broke on contact *cough*Kakuzu*cough*.

Sakura sifted through her presents. Fom Itachi, she had received a book called "Howl's Moving Castle" with a word saying that if she liked a good fiction story, it was the book to read. From Pein, interestingly enough, he gave her a poetry book. She smiled softly so he remembered.

She got a set of new kunai from Konan and a pack of exploding tags from Kakuzu. She didn't mind though, they didn't really know her well enough to get her something more personal anyways. The next gift was from Kisame, a frilly pink apron. She quirked an eyebrow at that and read the note that when with it.

_You'd look hot in only an apron._

Needless to say she turned into the color of a tomato but calmed down, after all, it was Christmas… and the apron _was_ kind of cute. She got a box of candy from Tobi saying that instead of that 'yucky coffee' wake her up, she could jut munch on one these sugary sweets and be 'hyper just like Tobi'. She sweat-dropped at the thought of her, sugar high with a pink and black swirly mask on her face and laughed at the mental image, earning her a few strange glances.

Sasori had given her the most peculiar gift though. A key. Yes, a key. Of course, a note was attached to it.

_North wing, third door right side._

She was confused at first but quickly realized that it was probably a room that could be opened with the key… but what was inside it? Well, I guess she would have to find out later.

The final present was, in her opinion, the one she most valued. It was the smallest, yes, even smaller than the key, but it had a great deal of sentimental value.

Deidara had made her a new replica of his first real masterpiece. The same two wings now sat on her palm, a polished white. She smiled softly at the note that went along with it.

_Since you liked it so much, I made an exact replica of it for you. Hope you like it! Oh, look on the back. And, whenever you're free, come to me and I'll take you on a ride on my bird!_

She flipped it and her smile widened at the words engraved on the back.

_I'll help you fly away into the heavens_

She really was touched by it. No, she really was touched by everything today. She realized that the Akatsuki were just like them. They had feelings outside of the job, hobbies, and passions… just like Konoha-nin. The only problem was that they were striving for peace through war. If they weren't so bent on capturing the tailed beasts, they would have hade formidable allies.

She smiled at all of them.

Well, because of the little mishap earlier, some of the members only got half of the intended amount of gifts.

Pein got scrolls (Itachi), pen (Konan), bottle of wine (Kisame) and a blank book, no it wasn't a diary, more like… a daily interpretation of his life, offered by Sakura. She wrote on the first page, her handwriting was beautifully done and very neat:

_To understand someone else, you have to understand ones self first. I hope this will help you clear your mind and I'll e looking forward to talking with you._

He was touched; something which never happened since the death of his parents.

Konan, for some reason, got different colored paper. She sweat-dropped they really didn't know her, did they? But then her mood lifted when she found a velvet box hidden under the colorful display of paper. She opened it and smiled. It was a simple silver chain, not flashy, simple, yet had its own elegance. She looked at the small note on it:

_I didn't know what you liked so I just got you this chain. I hope you like it and Merry Christmas. Sakura~_

Deidara smirked triumphantly that his gifts were a success. Of course, thankfully, in the chaos, no one really noticed that Sakura's present didn't blow up. He looked at his gifts, a particular one though. It was a painting. It was obviously made by an amateur because the colors clashed each other and the stroked were sloppy but it was his preferred gift. He wouldn't change it for the world, with it came a note:

_See? I told you I didn't have any artistic talent at all! Anyways, you're probably wondering what it is. Actually, it took me a while to figure that out as well. It's a painting of chaos. _

He blinked and re-read the last sentence and grinned. Maybe she wasn't an amateur after all.

Kakuzu sighed as all he got were IOUs from the times they stole money from him to buy useless things. The only one who didn't owe him anything got him a handy wooden money case. It had three vertical trenches on the left side where he could fit exactly 1000 ryo in each row and then on the right side were compartments to keep his money organized.

_I saw that you sometimes have trouble placing your money. FYI: that's how the others steal form you. I thought this would be useful._

He smirked and looked up, nodding his head at the girl gratefully and she replied with a smile.

Kisame got some new material to keep Samehada up and slicing but he just didn't care about that right now. For the moment, he was having a really important meeting his Sakura's gift. The liquid burned his throat and he sighed contentedly.

_It wasn't hard to guess what you like in life Kisame-san. This may be only three liters but it sure cost me a lot so please don't down it in one shot!_

Damn, the girl seriously knew some people! This was one of the rarest sake in the Shinobi world. We called it, the "Pure sake" because it was the only kind of sake that had the highest amount of alcohol without turning into something undrinkable. This was something only real sake drinkers could enjoy. He raised his glass towards her and she just shook her head, reminding him to keep some for later. Well, he was beginning to like this girl more and more everyday.

Sasori didn't even glance at the other presents but quickly opened what Sakura had offered him. He was surprised, though he did not show it, to find a glass container filled with dark blue liquid.

_I worked day and night to concoct this, Sasori-sempai. See if you can find the antidote! I'm sorry I couldn't get you something more personal but you're just as mysterious as a complicated poison… and I'd really like to know more about you and your feats oh great Akasuna no Sasori._

He smirked at her and she smirked back.

Itachi opened the gift he got from his Sakura and hid a smile. They had always shared the same passion for books. He had a feeling she would be offering him one. "Memories of a Geisha"

_As a child, I read this story one too many times, I realize that it is not that suitable for children but I was very curious. It my not please you that much, but if you are still trying to find puzzle pieces, then you might find clues throughout this book. This will remain one of the most beautiful books I've ever had the pleasure to read._

He opened the first page and narrowed his eyes at the small writing in pencil that Sakura's handwriting.

_Sayuri Nitta: I want a life that is mine!_

He smirked at the quote, evidently taken out from the book. He caught her gaze and smirked sexily, which sent shivers up her spine before she averted her eyes down to the gift she was carefully unwrapping.

Tobi was happily ripping away the wrappers and inspecting his gifts. He excitedly opened the one from their resident Cherry Blossom. Inside was a mask. He cocked his head to the side as he took it out. It was similar to an Anbu's except it was all black with white rimming the eyeholes. He picked up the note with it.

_I don't know who you are Tobi, if that's even your real name, all I know is that you're dangerous. I am going to be civilized and just frankly say that I don't trust a man who acts like a kid to seem 'innocent'. I have met few people who could actually pull it off like you do, but I am willing to strike a truce. You don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you. The mask is a bonus. Merry Christmas. _

He slowly lifted his head up to the pinkette who immediately noticed his stare. They stared at each other long and hard. He smirked under his mask and she knew it.

"_Very good Haruno Sakura… and here I thought you fell into it like those idiots. You truly are meant to be here. You could become so much greater with Akatsuki's help. Oh, you're a delectable little thing, you know that? I like women with power."_

A deep voice resonated through her head and she involuntarily shivered. He could invade her mind.

"_Don't worry, this is only temporary. I cannot read your mind. But… it'll be my pleasure to fuck around with you…" he chuckled darkly._

Sakura shivered and pulled the cloak closer to her body.

"Sakura-chan!" Tobi exclaimed happily, "Tobi likes the gift Sakura-chan offered Tobi! Thank you!" she suppressed another shiver.

Zetsu had disappeared altogether somewhere in the bombing and Hidan was still mumbling to himself.

"It's not fair that Hidan gets presents when he hasn't given any!" Tobi wailed after a while. Once again, everyone turned to the said Jashinist.

He gave a 'what the fuck' look everyone before an idea popped into his head. With a predatory smirk, he made his way towards the pinkette.

"Alright. You want a gift, I'll give you one that you'll never forget."

With that, he leaned forward and connected his lips with Sakura's.

Chakras flared dangerously.

War had been declared.

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**Well, hope you all liked it and again, Merry Christmas! I'm really happy that this story actually hit the 60s mark in reviews and it's all thank you guys! I feel really happy! A special thanks to domdom456789 who's always been the first one to review my story! Thanks for your support!**

**Well, I guess that's it! Merry Christmas and see you all at New Years!**


	19. Knockout

**Hey peoples! I am so sorry about the lateness! I really am... but I had writers block so I just stopped for while and it finally returned to me two days ago! Yay! So here's the very late New Years chappie and I'll try to update again soon!**

**Thank you thank you thank you so much for the reviews! I never thought that I would have ever gotten to 100 reviews! Thank you~ **

**So I'm gonna shut up now and you may begin reading!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, Sasuke would already be dead. ^^!**

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**Chapter 17: Knockout **

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Once upon a time, there was a secret base in the middle of a country that had for its principal climate, rain. In this secret base lived nine dangerous s-class criminals wanted by many. Well, let me tell ya, for highly wanted criminals, what they do in their free time is just what you or I would do in ours: gardening, playing doll, sculpture, reading books, eating candies and of course plotting for world domination.

Okay, you guys following me so far?

For copyright issues, we will be using codenames for the time being. So, anyways, let's get on with the story.

One day, 'Barbie' and 'Lollipop' were walking towards their home when they met a lost little 'Kitten'. The poor kitten was wounded and they decided to help her and, without permission and without any consideration of the consequences, they brought her to their base.

Well, let's just say that the 'Big Bad Leader' did not like that they brought 'Kitten' to their secret base and punished them by taking away all their candies. But soon after, it seemed like 'Big Bad Leader' had a soft spot for dear little 'Kitten' and oh my! It doesn't stop there! No surrey!

One by one, three of the eight others slowly began falling for 'Kitten'. There was the ever so stoic 'Weasel', 'Pinocchio', who she had turned into a real boy and 'Barbie' fell into her tiny clays without any warning!

Poor, poor 'Kitten'!

What will she do with all of these people after her heart? It only worsens as the days go by and as they fall deeper in love with her. Everything started though… on that day, Christmas day. No one knew what the dangers that lurked very near and it was coming…

Poor, poor naïve 'Kitten'!

Now, the beginning of the Dangers is starting now… it may look like its all fun and games until someone loses a limb!

Please enjoy the beginning of the End of the Akatsuki Arc!

Sakura's eyes widened as she felt warm pressure on her lips.

Her breath caught in her throat as her air way suddenly got cut off. She felt dangerous chakras spike up at an alarming rate as the seconds passed by.

Her brain tried to process the current situation but nothing came. There was only the distant shout of her mind screaming out to just _do something_.

_Anything._

So she did, and the next thing she knew, her back was being pressed against a strong chest and the albino was thrown into the opposite wall.

However, it took her a full minute to realize that it was her who punched the Jashinist in a moment where her instincts were, finally, working. The second realization came soon after that her back was currently pressed into the puppet master's chest.

She then felt the chakras calming down a bit but they were still a bit edgy, ready to attack whatever, or in this case, whoever made them angry.

"Come on. Let me show you to your Christmas gift," Sasori whispered in her ear, his breath fanned over her, sending small shivers up her spine. He didn't wait for an answer but stood up and pulled her up with him. With a nod to the others and a glare at the cackling albino, they left.

Sakura only looked back once when she heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from the way they came. She was tempted to go back and check on it but the red-head was having none of it as he gripped her wrist almost violently and dragged her even quicker through the halls.

They finally arrived at the door which the key was supposed to open. It was hermetically closed off with three inches of metal and the borders were rimmed with rubber as to not let anything escape. The red-head then dug into his cloak pocket until he took out an exact replica of the key he gave her, or, more likely, it was her key that was a copy of that one.

He paused as he was about to put the key in, turned his head to look at her pensively and with a small nod, retracted the key and stepped back. "Since it is a gift it should be the one receiving it who should open it."

She nodded and stepped forward, putting the key into the lock and turning it, she waited for the distinct 'click' that told her that it was open. When that came, she pulled the door back. At first, all her senses were wide alert as suddenly her vision went black.

"Relax, we're not there yet, I'll remove the blindfold when it's time," he whispered to her again. She let herself be guided deeper into the room. Her sight was disabled but her other senses weren't so she relied on them for some information.

She could hear water. It sounded very small so she guessed that it was a small pond or something. She could smell a sweet scent and knew that there were flowers somewhere around the place. She could feel the wind. It was gently lifting her pink tresses and ruffled her cloak slightly around her.

When the blindfold was finally removed, she gasped. In front of her was a beautifully made garden. True to her senses, there was a small koi pond with a mini waterfall; she could already see the colorful fish swimming around. Around the pond was covered in green grass, as was the whole area. The pond was to the left and to the right were flower beds with flowers already growing from them. Apart from that, all around the edges and more were empty flower beds. Right in front of her was large hole in the side of the mountain, letting the breeze and sunlight come in.

"This is amazing…" she finally drew out.

"I'm glad you like it," he replied, content.

She smiled, "Did you do all this?"

Sasori nodded a bit, "I did most of it, yes. I just asked Konan about what kind of flowers to plant." He just watched as Sakura took her shoes off and ran her feet into the soft grass then she went over to the flowers and smelled them. "I had noticed you had an interest in flowers so I decided to give you your own garden."

Sakura turned back, ran and hugged him. He had to step back and put one of his legs behind him for leverage. He was quite shocked to say the least. Really, two years ago, this was the woman who beat his ass and now, here he was, hugging her.

Fate really is a bitch.

"I also thought you could use the flower beds to grow some of your own herbs and plants. I have to travel more than 10 miles to find herbs that I need sometimes."

She smiled, "Thank you. I love it." She was still in his arms with her hands around his neck, though it seemed like she didn't really mind… nor did he anyways!

A warm feeling engulfed him then and to her surprise, he leaned his head forward so their foreheads were touching. His lazy gaze travelled from her eyes, down to her small button nose and then to her lips. Those soft-looking pink lips that made you want to just bite them.

He stopped his train of thought on that note, though. He really couldn't believe that Hidan actually had the guts to kiss her. He didn't have the right.

Sakura suddenly felt Sasori's good humor go down the drain for some reason. "Sasori?"

Her voice took him out of his dark thoughts of how he was going to skin and defragment the immortal so he could never put himself back the right way ever again.

"Hmm?"

"You seem preoccupied," she furrowed her eyebrows and pulled her arms away. He already missed their warmth.

He shook his head, "It's nothing."  
"You sure?"  
"Yeah."

She beamed at him, "Good, we're supposed to feel good on holidays like this."

Sasori nodded, his eyes still on her lips, the words didn't even reach him, actually. Well, if Hidan got the guts to do it, he would too. Pulling her by the waist until their bodies touched, he held her tightly, making sure that her arms were encased to her side, avoiding any… mishaps.

Sakura, once again, did not know what the hell was going on until, once again, she felt warm pressure on her lips. She was thinking of giving him the same treatment as the immortal albino… but then he moved his lips against hers and she melted against him.

He smirked when he felt her knees go weak and held her up with no difficulty. She wasn't responding yet, but he was going to change that as he deepened the kiss. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip and she gasped. Taking his chance, he thrust his tongue in her mouth and finally tasted her.

It was heavenly.

And it became much more interesting when her tongue shyly met his and she began responding. He kept on smirking into the kiss and he was thinking of going up another step when he felt her hands, which were freed when he was… occupied, on his chest, gently pushing him back.

Once they parted, they took very much needed breaths. He loosened his hold on her but her hands were still on his chest, putting a safe distance between them. He looked down at her, she was biting her bottom lip, a gesture she did when she was thinking about something frustrating.

Before he could feel guilty, he immediately apologized, which made her look up with doe eyes, saying that he didn't have anything to apologize for.

Awkward silence.

"Sasori…" she started but was cut off with a small peck.

"Stop," he interrupted; he gently caressed the side of her head, "you are too naïve for your own good, you know that? And way too oblivious."

She asked what that was supposed to mean, "Exactly that. You seem… to have no idea of the potential danger you could get yourself into here." She was about to interrupt but he quickly continued, "And I'm not talking about danger as in shinobi life. I'm talking about danger in your personal life. I know a handful of people who would like to be in my place right now and who _wouldn't have stopped_ even if you asked. Yet, you are oblivious to all of that."

She blinked. That was the most that Sasori had said to her. Ever. "I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that. Just… be careful."

She nodded, "Alright. And, speaking of which, I should give you the same treatment as Hidan for actually trying something on me… but…" she turned away with a blush, "I guess it could be my thanks for your gift since all I gave you was poison."

"Indeed," he chuckled.

They went out of the garden room a few minutes later, locking it up, Sasori told her to head on over to the living room, he had something to do elsewhere but said he would join them on later for breakfast. She acquiesced and they parted ways.

When she got to the living room, there was no Hidan to be found anywhere, just a… trail of blood leading from the living room to a Hidan shaped hole on the kitchen wall, next to the door.

"Sakura, so sorry about that," Konan went over to the younger girl, took her shoulders and guided her to the loveseat where Pein was seated on. There was still a little tension in the room but less than what it was a half hour ago, at least. "Sit over there; we decided to have breakfast here, the kitchen is currently a mess." She nodded and seated herself next to their stoic leader. Konan subtly winked at Pein which he replied with a roll of his eyes.

The Haruno was oblivious to the tenseness of her leader but relaxed into the seat, still a bit flushed (and weak) from the past few minutes with a certain red-head. Speak of the devil, he came in wearing a very smug and triumphant smirk which all the others noticed but wisely decided not to comment to prevent future… disasters.

It seems like after their little kiss, it seemed that he had the adrenaline to do more, or more likely, had the guts to do anything for the moment. So that's why he could permit himself to give their 'God' a glare which obviously said, 'Don't touch her'. But, him, being the God, of course, didn't need to heed to the 'empty threat' and finally decided to loosen up and casually scoot over a little towards the pinkette.

Well unfortunately, or fortunately, Tobi came bouncing into the room, waving a piece of paper in the air like a maniac while shouting, "Fireworks! Fireworks! Fireworks!" he skipped over to the loveseat and shoved it directly to Pein's face.

"Fireworks!"

Pein scowled and tore the paper away from his face. It was actually a flyer. A very colorful flyer which said that there was going to be a festival in a nearby town; albeit a small one with small Ferris wheels and booths. At the end, there would be a fireworks display at exactly New Years.

Pein shook his head, "We're still celebrating Christmas and you're already at New Years?" he drawled out dryly. He gave the paper back to Tobi, "Come back in a few days." He tried to push down his blush when she s her side against his.

A few days later…

"Tobi's going to the leader… Tobi's going to the leader… Tobi's going to the leader…" the masked man sang as he skipped across the base. His singing quieted though as Akatsuki's Blossom passed by, her nose in the book she got from Itachi for Christmas. "Good morning, Sakura-chan!"

She looked up lazily at him with a slightly wary look, "Tobi," she greeted back.

He smirked under his mask, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Akatsuki's Blossom…" it wasn't Tobi's voice anymore; the voice was deeper, huskier and more aggressive. "It seems like you weren't fooled by Tobi. I'm impressed. That blond idiot still believes in Tobi. Which remind me that you've been getting quite close to him… and more so with our resident puppeteer…" he chuckled darkly.

She stopped herself from shivering and managed to reply without her voice wavering, "I don't see how that's any of your business, I'm afraid."

That dark chuckle again.

"Well, a word of warning my little Blossom… _stop_."

She blinked, not quite understanding the vague 'warning'.

"Stop before you get caught up in this… dangerous web. You are very lucky… lucky that you're on their… _our_ good side. How? I don't even know myself. But let me tell you this: I don't like it. It seems like even my most ruthless and stoic of Akatsuki's members go soft at your mere presence. And that, I cannot have, _I'm afraid_." He mocked her.

He pinned her to the wall and ran his index finger over her right cheek, down to trace her jaw line, under her chin and down her neck to her throat where he pressed his finger in dangerously close to her vein.

"They are only human."

He stopped short at those words.

His shoulders started shaking, dark chuckles erupted from behind the mask. Soon enough, his whole body was trembling and he was flown blown out laughing.

"_Human?_ What kind of world have you been living in, _Princess_? These… _weapons_… were only made to kill. Uchiha Itachi was made a genius to show the power of the Uchiha Clan, Sasori no Akasuna and Deidara betrayed their village because they wanted power that their villages denied them. How human can these killing tools be?"

Sakura glared at the man, "As long as they still have compassion for any living being they still remain human. Unlike you, I suppose."

Tobi gave a pensive 'hum', "Mou, Sakura-chan, you shouldn't judge people like that! Especially Tobi~" that sickening voice came out as if to mock her, "You should know that better than anyone! You seem… so fragile, so emotional… so…" she narrowed her eyes as if daring him to say the word, "so _weak_," finished his ulterior ego.

With that, she felt his presence disappear down the hallway, leaving her slightly shaking with hidden fear. Yes, she feared that man. She didn't know what he was capable of… that made her fear him even more.

"Sakura?" she looked up quickly, berating herself for not noticing his presence sooner. "You okay?"

She nodded shakily, "Yeah… it's just a little too stuffy in here."

"Let's go outside. You'll feel better out there," the man smiled at her and they made their way towards the exit.

"Thanks Dei-Dei…" she smiled and he blushed at the new nickname.

Once outside, she reveled in the breeze and plopped herself down onto a dead tree trunk. It was the same clearing as where she had found Sasori.

The blond plopped down next to her, watching her from the corner of his eyes, "You look shaken up… what happened?" he was genuinely concerned about her. He was really impressed –and glad- that she hadn't broken down like most people would at their presence. She was a calm serenity, a breeze that blew over the lot of them.

She gave a sad smile, "… do you still fear…?"

Deidara blinked, "Wha?"

She tilted her head down and swung her feet idly, "Fear. Do you still feel it?"

Oh.

The bomber thought about it for a few seconds then answered, "Honestly… sometimes."

She looked up suddenly, seemingly shocked at his answer, "Really?" He just laughed at the face she was making, it was so cute! He reclined his upper body back and looked at the cloudy sky. It was going to rain again soon.

"Yeah. What shinobi has no fears? We cannot live without our fears, you know. We need something to… I don't know how to explain it… to remind you that you can't win every time. A shinobi must know that there are things beyond his control. For most it's the fear of dying. For some, it's just the fear of failure. And… to the rare few… it's the fear of losing someone important to them."

They locked eyes.

He laughed, "You look at me like I've grown another head!" He put a comforting hand on top her hand and rubbed, "You neither have the fear of death or failure… but I'm fairly sure that you're in the third category… am I right?" He hand stopped but he didn't remove it.

She sighed, "Yeah. Most say that's my greatest flaw. I care too much."

"And they're right."

She looked up and pouted, he shook his head, "Shinobi are taught to hide emotion… no… to erase all emotions and attachments… bonds. But… I can't do it. I've tried… and-

"Let me stop you right there," he put a finger to her lips, "Don't follow what people are supposed to do. Just follow what you think you should do. You're the only one controlling who you are." He sighed, as if remembering something, "I once knew a man. He was, for a time, my role model. He was everything I could ever imagine me to be. Strong, famed, rich. Then… he died. And what did they do? They threw his corpse in a barrel, buried him 6 feet under and he was forgotten. That's when I stopped trying to be like someone else and started living my own life."

The rosette smiled, "I've tried to live my own life. I really have. But… I feel like… this is not enough… like _I'm_ not enough."

She heard a frustrated sigh, "Sakura. Listen to me." He took her chin with two of his fingers and forced her to look at him. "_Don't ever change_. I…" he looked away, embarrassed, "I like you the way you are…" he smiled gently at her, "Just the way you are…"

Sakura's mouth opened a bit and her eyes widened as a blush crept up her neck. They both looked away to other ends both kind of embarrassed. But then she smiled and reached into the pouch on her waist. She took his hand and placed the object there.

"Thanks Deidara. That means a lot to me. Don't ever change either." With that, she gave him a peck on the cheek and ran back inside.

Deidara stayed there for who knows how long, grinning almost stupidly. He looked down into his hand to find a gleaming topaz. He chuckled.

"Don't ever change."

Sakura ran to her room and locked the door. She leaned against the door and tried to slow down her beating heart. She fanned herself, deciding that it was no use she splashed her face and neck with some cold water.

Knock, knock.

She looked up and shouted, "Coming!" She quickly dried her face and hands before going to open the door. "Ah, Konan, what brings you here?"

Konan smiled, "You don't have a kimono do you?" she asked. Sakura blinked.

"Uh… no, I don't. Why?" she stepped aside so the older woman could enter.

"You know Tobi had found a flyer with the New Years festival. We decided that it would be nice to go there. No one would know us and it'll give us a vacation. That's why you need a kimono."

"Oh…" was all Sakura could say, suppressing a shiver at the mention of Tobi.

"Don't worry; I have some spares in my room. We just need to match it to your size, come on."

That's how they found themselves in Konan's room. It was well-decorated. The walls were a pale blue and everything was centered on the color. There was a queen sized bed, a closet, a desk and a bookshelf. On the desk were the colored paper she got for Christmas and an assorted bouquet of origami flowers.

"Why blue?"

"It gives me a sense of peace… and calm. Something rare in a shinobi's life if I do say so myself." She began digging through her closet, throwing many different kinds of kimonos out onto the bed. "There. I think that's all."

Sakura looked through it, "What are you going to wear?" The blue-haired woman went over and picked up a dark blue one from the pile. It had white chrysanthemums on it and the obi was a light blue.

"With my hair color, there are only so many colors that won't clash horribly with it…"

"I understand…"

Both girls giggled.

"Now… we can throw out the blacks, it just doesn't look right. That leaves the whites, the reds, the greens and the pinks. But white can easily get dirty so it wouldn't do. After a few minutes of sorting them out, only two choices were left.

There was a pale pink one with cherry blossoms then there was a red one. In the end, she chose the red. It was less cliché. She chose well. The sleeves were a scarlet red but faded away to a barely visible shade of pink at her shoulders, it did that at the bottom as well but it went diagonally from her right hip to the end of the kimono on the bottom left was red, on the bottom part, where it wasn't red was a blood red butterfly, paired with a red obi and she was done.

There was a knock on the door but he just spoke through it, "We're leaving in two hours." The deep voice of Pein called out before he disappeared.

"We'd better get ready then," Konan smiled. After the girl left she shook her head, "It's like I have a little sister…" she was about to pick up her kimono when she noticed a beautifully cut sapphire on top of it.

The pinkette made her way back to her room with her kimono in tow. She locked the door and went to have a quick shower. She then dressed herself with the help of a clone, tying the obi wasn't something that you could do alone anyways.

She sat herself down in front of the full body length mirror that Deidara had let her borrow for the time being. She kneeled down, making sure to not rip her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror. She tried to smile but it came out a bit shaky and forced. With a nostalgic sigh, she began applying her make-up. Some light powder on her face, neck and chest to conceal small scars, liquid red lipstick and eyeliner. Then she sat there, looking at her reflection silently.

A sudden knock pulled her out of her reverie.

"Come in."

She looked at the reflection of a man in a black men's yukata. It was just black and the cloth that was tied around his hips was white. His long hair was still tied in a low ponytail but instead of it running down his back, he had put it over one shoulder.

"Itachi…"

She just watched silently from her place through the mirror as he approached her and kneeled on one leg behind her and smiled, "You look beautiful."

She blushed prettily and muttered her thanks and looked away from the reflection.

"No need to be shy. You should be proud that you are astounding with or without make-up. Though I prefer you in natural." He smirked. She huffed and looked away, her hair falling in her face at the sudden motion. Without any warning, she suddenly felt hands pull gently at her hair.

"Wha?"

"It isn't going to be very practical if you let your hair down like this. It's warm outside." Sakura sat there dumbfounded as Uchiha Itachi began brushing her hair. "Don't tell me this is the first time you've had you hair done."

She shook her head, earning her a small tug which clearly said not to move so much, "Not by a _male_ by any means!" He smirked at that and began styling her hair up into a messy chignon that made her look sexy, he let some strands out to frame her face and some here and there to provoke a kind of wild look to her.

"So… how did you know how to do this?" she inspected his handiwork with great appreciation. Sakura looked up and almost gaped. She's seen Itachi in many colors now but this was the first time she saw him embarrassed.

"My mother always wanted a daughter. She would dress Sasuke up in girl's clothing when my father wasn't at home. Sasuke spent most of his childhood running around the house in a pink dress until my father surprised him and threw them away. When my mother no longer had rights with Sasuke… she came to me. Unfortunately, I already had long hair… and… you can guess the rest."

Sakura pursed her lips together and shut her eyes for a few moments to regain her calm. She took two deep breaths before opening her eyes again to Itachi's annoyed face.

"I'm sorry… it's just… I… um… I really don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything then. To anyone." He finished and stood up, "We'll be in the living room when you're ready." Then he left, closing the door silently.

Sakura smiled cutely in the mirror this time, turning her head from left to right to inspect the hairdo further. She was about to stand up when another knock stopped her mid-way and she let herself fall down again with a huff, "Come in."

She thought it would be Deidara or even Itachi again… but never Pein. She tried to stand up but he put a hand up, "Stay." Was his order and she did.

Much like Itachi, he stood behind her and looked at her from her reflection. He was wearing a grey yukata with a black cloth around his hips. His hands were shoved together in the sleeves. There was a silence for a few moments until she heard Pein make a soft sighing sound but she wasn't sure.

"I've never met someone like you before, Sakura." He started. "You are… quite unique." He seemed to be having trouble forming his words right and he kept shifting his eyes from side to side as if the words were going to be spelled out on the carpet or the walls. "It wasn't a mistake to let you be apart of this group… even if I know that your loyalty does not lie within Akatsuki."

Her eyes widened at that, "I…"

"There is no need to say anything either. Even I don't have my whole loyalty to this organization." He took his hands out from his sleeves and presented it to her. There was something wrapped in delicate red silk. She timidly reached for it and slowly pulled the folds apart.

Once she saw the object, she gasped. It was a beautiful pin hair ornament. A beautiful butterfly sat atop the ornament; it was painted in black, white and red and had small diamonds outlining its wings, it was molded on the extremities of two rods.

She looked up at him, "I… I can't take this. I really can't."

He rolled his eyes, "Well I have no use for it, now do I?" he asked.

"But…"

"Please." He almost pleaded and she furrowed her eyebrows, "Just accept it." Before she could protest, he had already stuck it into her hair. She bit her bottom lip. The orange-haired man brushed a hand over her cheek, "Come. We'll be leaving soon." He held out a hand for her to take and they made their way to the living room.

Everyone was already there dressed in yukatas and handing out paper fans. As they entered, Konan approached them and gave both a fan. As she was handing one to Sakura, she stopped and her eyes widened. She quickly turned to Pein had already disappeared.

'_He gave her his mother's hair ornament… I can't believe it…' _Konan thought.

"Konan?" The said girl blinked.

"Ah, right, we should be get going! Come on boys!"

The small town was just a few minutes away by flight, courtesy of Deidara. They got ff a bit on the outskirt and flowed in with the mass. Things were so colorful, there were booths for games, food and then a small Ferris wheel with only eight seats.

So the fun began.

The boys dragged Sakura along with them from booth to booth, trying out the local delicacy and some childish games.

"Sakura-chan!" Deidara called, "Let's go over there!"  
"I think we should go that way instead," Sasori argued. They glared at each other. Sakura just stood at the side watching them argue and sighed. She felt a large hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Kisame there.  
"Hey, come here a moment, will you?" before she could protest, the blue man had already dragged her to a very loud booth.

Sakura stood there, twitching, "You brought me to a sake booth?" Kisame gave her toothy smile, "Yeah, there's gonna be a contest but only for women right now. I thought you could try out your luck."

"You're kidding right?"

He laughed and shook his head, "I know a sake lover when I see one. Anyways, the prize is two liters of that fine wine." He thrust his thumb to a podium where a small barrel was with gold plating.

Upon further inspection, "You have got to be kidding me… they're giving away that sake? That costs around… well, a lot!"

Kisame nodded, "I know… and if I were a girl, I would totally win it, but I'm not."

"So you're using me…"

"Yeah."

"…"

"…"

"Okay. But I get half." She bargained. At that, Kisame howled with laughter, "That's a deal Saks." She ignored the name and went up to the stage where a few burly women were getting ready.

One of them gave her a once over, "Hey, look what we got here! You sure you're in the right place girly?"

Sakura smirked, picked up a bottle and downed it in one go, "Positive."

A few… okay, a lot of sake bottles later…

Sakura looked around her and smiled, "That's all you've got?" She nudged the woman passed out on the floor with her foot, earning no response; she daintily finished the last bottle on the table.

"We got a winner folks! Congratulations miss!" he handed her the barrel with a grin. She looked around for Kisame but couldn't find him in her vision.

Shrugging, Sakura made her way down without a single stumble and all the guys present followed her with their eyes… hungry eyes might I add.

A group of bad-smelling men stepped out in front of her, "That was quite a show there. You wanna hang with us? We've got more sake over there."

Sakura resisted the urge to gag, "No thank you." She tried to pass but the leader stopped her.

"No way doll face, come on, we'll show you a good time! Right guys?" there were 'hell ya' s and more but she still said no. "Come on-

"The lady said no so you'd better back off," a deep gruff voice said form behind them.

"And who the hell…" his voice died out on his lips as he slowly looked up. Kisame grinned, showing his row of very sharp teeth.

"Boo."

Needless to say, the men ran off screaming bloody murder. The pink-haired laughed, "Thanks, I would've punched them six feet under and our cover would've been blown."

"No prob Saks," she handed him the barrel, "Thanks."

"No prob 'Same," she teased back. She looked up at the sky, "I'm gonna go sober myself up a bit."

"'Kay, don't go off too far though!"

"Yes, dad!" she hollered back mockingly.

She looked around for a quiet place to sit and heal the coming headache. Finally finding a quiet spot, she sat herself under a tree and leaned back, putting her fingers against her temples. A few seconds, later the pressure vanished and she sighed in relief.

"Boo!"

Sakura didn't even bat an eyelash when Tobi appeared upside down right in front of her face. She pushed him away, "What is it?" she harshly asked, annoyed.

"Mou, Sakura-chan isn't so nice anymore…" Tobi's childish voice said.

She rolled her eyes, "You really freak me out with that so could you stop?"

There was a moment of silence before Tobi pushed himself off the tree and sat cross-legged in front of her, "You interest me more and more everytime, Haruno Sakura…" his deep voice talked this time. "You have a vitality that is most refreshing." He put two fingers under her chin but she quickly turned her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, feisty, aren't you? But I like you better now than when you were a lifeless doll."

The teen huffed and glared, "What do you want?"

"I've been doing some research. You know background check, family, education. And I found nothing of value. You have nothing going against you, not a single rule broken, you were raised by merchants but became a kunoichi which explained your poor ability in physical tryouts but you made up for it with your smarts. At the top of your class with the highest grades on paper. Being beaten only by… Uchiha Sasuke."

She flinched at that name and earned a knowing chuckle, "Oh, yes… I've also heard that you were infatuated by him at the time, well, so was most of the female population between he ages of ten and fifteen anyways. You hate him, don't you?"

No answer.

"You hate for what he put you through, right? I can feel it. He abandoned you… just like everybody else." He caressed her cheek, "I've made my mind. You could be so much happier. So much happier by my side."

Her eyes widened.

"With your powers and my knowledge, we could destroy them. You could stay with me and live… forever."

Her mind was working at a very fast pace to try and understand every word that came out of his mouth.

"You could get stronger. With my help, you will." His hand made its way to the back of her neck. "I can help you get…"

Sakura looked up into the sole eyehole in the mask and froze. Black and red… spinning. Spinning, Spinning again and again.

"_Stronger…"_

Her vision faded and she only registered two things before blacking out: one, was another pair of sharingan eyes behind Tobi and two, a familiar voice telling her not to give in.

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**Thank you for reading and please review! Write you guys soon!**


	20. Surprises

**Here we are peoples! The final chapters of the Akatsuki Arc! I've been thinking a lot about how it should end and I came out with these two chapters. I hope everyone has enjoyed this Arc and thank you for all the reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the quotes**

**(I kinda wrote chap 11 twice -the title I mean- so this should be chap 19 and the previous 18 and so on and so forth_ sorry for the mix-up)**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Surprise**

* * *

The pinkette's eyelashes trembled before her eyes slowly opened. She took in a breath from her nose and smelled pine. Looking up, she found herself gazing up at Itachi's chin. There was a light buzz in her ears so she couldn't hear anything but she saw that he was moving his mouth, talking to someone.

But who?

His eyes flickered to her for a second before they narrowed in a rage that was so unlike him. She had never, up until now, seen that look in his eyes. It promised pain… a lot of pain.

Finally the buzzing stopped, coincidentally, at the same time that Itachi stopped talking to whoever he was talking to.

"Itachi…?" she whispered and pushed herself up from the tree's trunk. She immediately felt one of his arms behind her shoulders to help. He was kneeling at her side and looking at her with concern and slight irritation.

"You always have to attract unwanted attention, don't you?" he asked her exasperated. With that, she suddenly remembered what had happened and shot up.

"H-He had the Sharingan! Tobi… or, whoever that is as the Sharin-

A finger to her lips stopped her tirade, "Calm down and quiet down."

She pushed his hand away and glared at him, "If you hadn't shown up, I can't even imagine what he could have done to me! So don't tell me to forget this," she hissed.

A flash of curiosity ran through the Uchiha's eyes, "What did he say exactly?"

Sakura shifted her eyes to the side and tried to forget the way that man ran his fingers against her cheek. She unconsciously reached up to cup one, "He said that I should join him and I could 'live forever'." She looked up to see Itachi scowling and almost seething in fury. "Itachi… who was that man?"

The raven sighed and punched the poor abused tree, "He was the one who helped me wipe out my clan. His name is Madara Uchiha."

Sakura scrunched up her eyebrows, "Excuse me? Did you just say, Uchiha Madara? One of the great founders of Konoha? But… how? How is that even possible?" she began panicking on the spot as it seemed nothing made sense to her anymore. She put her hands at the side of her head and paced, "What the hell is going on? This- that can't be possible, if what you're saying is true then that man must be over 90 years old! I can't believe-

Itachi seized her arms and shut off her words with a kiss.

_A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous._

When he felt the tension leave her arms, he pulled back and let her go, "If you calm down, I'll explain everything to you. But not here. Meet me in the Bijuu extraction room when you're ready." With that he disappeared into the night as a good shinobi should.

She was left there gaping.

She didn't know how long she just stayed there but an explosion drove her out of her reverie. Her muscles tensed but then she sighed to herself when she found it was the start of the fireworks.

Midnight.

"Happy New Year…" she whispered to herself.

"Sakura-chan, un?"

The blond crouched down to her level, "Hey, what happened? You look all pale, un. You okay?"

She forced out a smile, "I'm fine."

At that, the blond frowned, "Tell me the truth."

_Sometimes when I say I'm fine I want someone to look me in the eyes and say 'tell me the truth'._

He reminded her so of Naruto: his words, his understanding, and his _smile_.

_Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful._

She let out a real laugh, "I'm fine now. Thanks." It was funny how his smile, compared to the fireworks behind him, shone so much brighter. Then she stopped herself.

Is she just projecting Naruto's image onto Deidara?

'_Cause when I'm with him, I am… thinking of you…_

She shook her head and put her arms up towards him, "I think it's time to go back…" He nodded his head and gladly pulled her up. Stretching a bit, they made their way back to civilization where the others have finished enjoying the fireworks display and were ready to go home.

Home…

Is this really her home?

_Home is not where you live, but where they understand you._

Yeah… maybe it was. They were a second family for one such as her.

_**Later that night**_

With feather-light footsteps, she glided her way around the corridors to the other entrance of the extraction room. Instead of ending up a thousand feet above, she was on firm ground. Looking around, she found Itachi sitting against the giant left hand.

This time, instead of the clam and serene silence there usually was… instead, it was tense and suffocating.

"Sit."

She did.

She heard him let out a tired sigh.

"Twelve years now. I've known him for twelve years, since the day he showed up in the Uchiha Clan's garden, from the moment when he revealed himself to me and decided to train me, to the time when he helped me kill our own blood… he's always been there. Watching us. He wanted to exterminate the Uchihas, his descendants. Back then, I thought I was pretty fortunate to have met a person like him especially during the plot to take over Konoha. He's… a man with ambitions. Strong ambitions. His Mangekyou Sharingan, called Eternal Mangekyou, has allowed him to live this long. He went into hiding, per se, after the battle at the Valley of the End. He later showed up when I was 11, as I told you and trained me.

Now… I don't know what he's planning to do. He knows that if the chance came, I would somehow turn against him. I am trying to figure his plan out. To try to stop him. If this keeps going… I'm afraid we're going to be witnesses and game pieces of the Fourth Great Shinobi War."

Silence.

_There are times when silence has the loudest voice_

The Uchiha inspected the kunoichi before him. Her hair had grown a little past her shoulders, he finally noticed, when she arrived, it was very short.

"Sakura?"

She looked up, "I'm kinda tired. I think I'm gonna go to sleep now…"

"I'll accompany you," he said immediately, standing up.

"No need… anyways, I'd like to be alone for now… 'kay? See you tomorrow. I hope the gem's working." With that, she disappeared, leaving a lone Uchiha.

_**8 months later… **_(a/n: I totally realize that I'm speeding through this but can you guys just imagine the time skip? I don't know, take a random or your favorite AkaSaku fic and imagine that on here. I've spent way too much time on them and I'm finishing this arc.)

_Pein's office_

"I refuse."

Madara raised an eyebrow under his mask, "Oh really? And why not? Don't tell me even you are taken with her!"

The pierced man did not answer.

"I knew it. I'm going to kill her. You're all going soft. When war breaks out and she goes to Konoha's camp, would you be willing to even attack the damn village?" he practically screamed. He slammed his hands onto the poor used desk, "She has brought nothing but complications here."

"She has been here for eight months and since then; our profit went up because our members did not need a month's rest for healing. She-

"She has all of you wrapped around her pretty little finger. I admit though that she is a very talented kunoichi, one of the best I've ever seen. She's strong, intelligent and her exoticness is of a rare beauty…" Madara drawled out as if thinking about something.

Pein tried to keep calm. He knew where this was going and he didn't like it one bit. But, unfortunately, before he could say anything, the man was already gone.

Sakura contemplated on the situation. She really was tangled in a dangerous web. It was gonna take more than struggling to get out of it. Oh no… the only way to break out this web… is to set it afire. Burn it into ashes until there's nothing left.

She looked at her remaining gems and one by one, they disappeared to their no, rightful owners. Each gem was special. Back in Simulacrum, there was a cave. This was the only cave in the land and for good reason. There was a barrier on the entrance to make sure no one unwanted could venture inside. When you first step foot into it, you are awed beyond simple words. The walls, the ground, the ceiling, everything… was made of pure gems. There were sapphires, amethysts, topaz and more in all shapes and forms.

This was where novices came to get what they called "SoulGems". To each of the nine elements came a gem to represent it. So, in fact, there were only nine kinds of gems all scrambled around the cave. Sure, it seems easy to pick out a gem and get on with our lives but this was different. The gems are the ones who choose you but not the other way around.

Why? Because each one is different. Let's say a novice got a gem. Once the gem that is his is picked, it will lose its shine. And as the novice grown in power and strength, the gem will also accumulate brightness. When the gems are at its full power, they become weapons. A weapon of your choice (but most people choose swords). That is the power of these "gems" that took her a year to find.

Of course, they also had some special properties. Each gem is affiliated to a certain emotion. The onyx (which she gave to Itachi) was the symbol of 'tranquility' and gives a calm peace to the person owning it. The sapphire that she gave to Konan was for 'kindness'.

She knew she had to go sooner or later.

_Topaz-Light-Pride  
__Deidara examined the gem he had in his palm and chuckled at how it matched his hair perfectly. It was worth something since it was from Sakura of all people. He went over to his shelf and gently put the gem next to his first masterpiece. He nodded in approval. It was like it belonged there._

_Onyx-Darkness-Tranquility  
__The onyx-eyed raven slept peacefully, the gem clutched in his palm. Every night, he would hold it in his hand and drift into a peaceful slumber… trying to catch up to all those nightmare-plagued sleepless nights and those awful headaches that a certain angel healed him from._

_Sapphire-Water-Kindness  
__Brushing her hair almost absent-mindedly, she stopped and put her hairbrush down, her fingers bumping into the blue gem on her vanity. Lightly rubbing it, she smiled at its simplistic beauty. The atmosphere of the Akatsuki had changed since that girl came. It was less tense, less hostile and overall friendly. She liked it better this way. But what will happen when she leaves?_

_Ruby-Fire-Strength  
__Pein gazed curiously at what was on top of his paperwork. A ruby of all things. He picked it up and vaguely smelled cherries. A smirk made way to his face as he examined the precious stone. He could compare this to Sakura… both rare, both of a wondrous beauty, flawless and showed the fire inside… but Sakura would always win. Always._

_Emerald-Greenery-Abundance  
__Hidan inspected the thing that was on his bed. He picked it up and inspected it. Thinking that the pink haired poodle came into his room without permission, he was about to march right over there when he stopped himself. Shit, she was going to have to wait, it was praying time. He looked at the stone in his hand, picked up his scythe and forcefully put the object near the blades. It didn't look half bad._

_Amber-Earth-Knowledge  
__Kisame looked amused at the light brown shine that was now decorating the bottom of the hilt of Samehada. He was also amused that she was just giving away the gemstones she almost killed Tobi and Hidan to get. He wondered if they got one, too. He chuckled at the thought. Tobi would probably think its candy and choke on it and Hidan would probably just ignore it. The girl really was unpredictable._

_Opal-Steel-Ingenuity  
__Sasori carefully mixed and matched some herbs. It had been a few months already and he still couldn't find the last ingredient to the poison Sakura had given him on Christmas. His eyes flickered to the gleaming opal on the lab table and shook his head. He really shouldn't have introduced her to poison making. With this kind of complexity, it would take at least ten heads to figure this one out. Well, like maker like poison. _

_Zircon (white)-Wind-Courage  
__Kakuzu estimated that this had a price of at least 100,000 ryo… but… it was from her. Maybe he could just let it pass once in a while. After all, she always gave him her share of the money she won during the small incognito missions. Yeah, and anyways, presents aren't mean to be sold. Well, not the ones form her, at least. He really hadn't the courage to do that after what she did to the others._

She twirled the last of her gems which she was keeping for herself.

_Amethyst-Dream-Beauty  
__It was always her favorite because it gave her a kind of self-assurance. No matter if things around you fall apart, you'll have your dreams to at least cushion the fall as well. Reality's a bitch that trips over her own heel. Dreams are the geeks who get picked on but never give up. She'd rather be the geek._

Sitting up on her bed, the pinkette ran a hand through her hair and as she was about to stand up, a dark shadow passed over her. She froze, her muscles tensed up and her fingers twitched. Her heart beat faster as the man reappeared behind her and stroked the side of her head.

Her leg twitched as she was prepared to run but not even a step away, he fisted her hair, yanked her back forcefully and threw her on the bed. The rosette clutched the side of her head but it was quickly numbing. Before she could react, he was on top of her with her hands pinned above her head.

The mask was finally off and she could see what Uchiha Madara looked like. Like all previous and current Uchihas, he was as handsome as they came. The only thing wrong with the picture was the crazed look in his eyes. The swirling tomoe seemed to hypnotize her. She closed her eyes to regain her senses and started to struggle.

"Now, now, I'm not gonna do anything inappropriate to you."

"Says the guy who pins a girl down onto a bed," she hissed back, her eyes boring into his as she continued to struggle.

"Struggle all you want, love, you're not gonna be struggling for long. Tell me, with your knowledge, how much do you know about life-extraction jutsus?" he asked nonchalantly. He smirked when the body beneath him tensed.

"All I know is that it's forbidden!" she practically shouted.

"No need to shout. I've soundproofed this room," he told her. "Life-extraction jutsus are rare nowadays. Few people even know about their existence. There are many variations but most of the rest are the simple extracting life while the opponent is in agony which was used in the First and Second Great Shinobi War in the T&I department. After that, it was banned because it was 'inhuman' they said. What a waste. It was never used again and most scrolls about them were burned. The people who once knew it are long dead now. There has been only a handful, six if my memory serves me right, left in the world. I happened to stumble upon it. I've only used it once since then. What a more beautiful way to part from this world than screaming in agony. Nee, Blossom?"

She glared at him, "I will never give you the pleasure of hearing me scream in agony. Never."

"We'll see about that…" he chuckled darkly. "This one is special," he let go of her hands but they were kept n place by chakra binds, and him, being at least three times more powerful than her, she could not break free of it unless she amputates her own hands. "I think it's a real waste to just let all that vitality e wasted away. The good thing about this one is that it recycles. You life energy, instead of parting from your body and into the atmosphere… will instead be transferred to me. As you will lose your life, I will gain more years. Isn't it just convenient?"

She growled again, "I really loathe you right now."

"Oh and I love you, too kitten." With that, he did a flurry of hand signs and suddenly, she felt as if her body was made of lead. She stopped moving as a foreign feeling made its way across her body. He made the Ram hand seal. Almost immediately, her body convulsed and arched up, but, true to her word, she kept silent even though he knew it was agonizing.

"Let's level up, shall we?" he concentrated more chakra and was rewarded with the widening of her eyes as the jutsu engulfed her body, tearing apart her clothes from the mere pressure of it. She gasped as she felt weaker and weaker.

Her vision blurred and her hearing was cut off but she could vaguely see the door being pounded on. She was picked up bridal style; her brain was still registering the shock and all she could do was lay limp in his arms.

Everyone at the base stopped what they were doing when they felt Sakura's chakra fade away. Pein realized what was happening and quickly made his way to their Angel's room before it was too late. Along the way, the others followed him as they too felt it.

"Sakura-chan?" Deidara yelled as he tried to open the door in vain. When that wasn't working he started pounding on the door but someone had put a barrier up. The chakras inside vanished then reappeared outside.

They immediately followed.

The light chakra trace that Sakura had left took them to about a mile south of the base, on a cliff to be more precise. There, they found Madara standing not five feet from the edge facing the dark abyss below.

"Madara, It's over. I refuse to be a part of your plan anymore," Pein stated.

Madara chuckled and turned, giving them a full view of Sakura. The poor girl's clothes were ripped to shreds, it was just enough to keep modest around the chest and thigh area. There were chakra sparks around her body, almost like electricity. Her eyes would shut tightly in pain when the sparks intensified. Her eyes were hazy and unfocused and a tear was at the corner of her eyes.

"What did you do to her?" Itachi asked, restraining himself from attacking.

"Well, I've just about taken… five years of her life. And, of course, to a shinobi, that's quite a lot, isn't it?" he grinned, "It's such a shame such beauty has to be lost this way. But… let me say this out loud, it's your fault she's in this position right now." He turned his gaze to Deidara, "You should've stopped Tobi when you had the chance but you didn't," then to Pein, "You did not see the imminent danger of this woman," then to everyone else, "And the rest of you fell into her palms without qualm." He then shrugged, "Then again, it's also my fault. Tobi has a mind of his own sometimes. He never should have found the girl in the first place."

Sasori narrowed his eyes, "So you're not Tobi?"

"Sometimes I am… Sometimes I'm not. Tobi is a spirit who I found drifting near Hell. That means he is a being apart from me. I just channel my thoughts onto him and control this body. But yes, the Tobi you know really exists. On that account, he is currently trying to break out of my mind. He seems to care about this organization. It was a mistake after all to have given him this job." The eldest Uchiha's calm eyes narrowed in concentration.

Abruptly, his eyes dilated, "Tobi is trying to stop him so be quick! Take… Sakura!" it was like an internal fight, actually, it was. Two souls were fighting in one body, Madara's arms stretched out as if to give Sakura to them. "Quickly!"

But, unfortunately, before they got to Madara, the real one was in dominance and instead swung his arms and let the kunoichi fall. Pein didn't waste any more time, "Deidara, get Sakura, the rest of you… attack."

Then it began.

While the others took on Madara, Deidara quickly summoned his clay bird and jumped off the ledge. In two seconds flat, he found Sakura's still falling body and raced to catch her. Stretching out one of his hands while the other was steering the bird, he managed to grab her hand and quickly pulled back. He held her in his arms tightly, afraid that she might disappear. Quickly taking off his cloak, he draped it over her semi-naked form before slowly making his way back up.

He witnessed the last minute of the battle as Pein had managed to strike Madara's arm. His eyes dilated once more as Tobi fought.

"That's it you useless spirit!" Madara yelled as it seemed like his flesh was being ripped apart. Another Madara, instead with short hair appeared next to him. Seeing what had happened, Madara quickly activated his Sharingan and left through the portal he had created.

Deidara sighed when the fight was "done". The man wasn't dead but he would think twice before coming back. He looked with care at the woman in his arms and frowned. She needed medical help right away. He landed and passed Sakura carefully into Konan's awaiting arms.

Everything was quiet as the blue-haired kunoichi made her way back to the base. The men looked at each other for a few moments.

Pein decided to take the initiative, "That man is now a traitor. The next time he shows, attack on sight. Deidara, got and fetch Uji-san's wife, she's the most experienced on these kinds of things. Itachi, I need to speak with you. The rest, make scout the surroundings for any traces of that man."

"What do we do with him?" Kakuzu asked, nudging the still body on the ground with his foot.

The leader was silent for a moment, "Take him inside. He's not the traitor. But we will still keep a close eye on him." With that, they all made their way to do their assigned tasks, Pein and Itachi were going back towards the base.

Konan laid the other girl carefully on her bed. "What has he done to you?" she brushed away some stray bangs from the girl's pale face. Her whole body was of a sickly white. The blue-haired still remembered the look of uselessness in the pinkette's eyes as she was being held by Madara. Her eyes were saying sorry because she could do nothing about the situation.

She was sorry that she was weak.

"Silly girl…" Konan smiled bitterly, "You've never been weak… I don't want to see that kind of expression on your face again…" she whispered at the unconscious girl. Uji-san and his wife, Houki, arrived about twenty minutes later via Deidara's bird.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… not good… not good at all…" the old lady kept mumbling to herself as she examined the young kunoichi. "She's had it rough." The old woman, only two years younger than her husband, was as short as him in height and was a bit plump. Her wispy white hair was wrapped in a bun at the top of her head with two chopsticks sticking into it vertically. Her aged hands were assessing the damage done.

"I-Is she going to be alright?" Deidara asked meekly.

The old woman narrowed her eyes, "I'm surprised she isn't dead! That's one strong jutsu. It literally took the life out of her. I would say that she's down about at least 8 years of her life. The poor dear."

There was a thick silence.

"But no worries. Grandma can always make miracles happen! With my treatment, she should be better within a few months or so. But for now… I'm afraid she's going to be in a coma for some time. A month at least... that is… if she ever wakes up. If she doesn't show a sign of consciousness soon… I'm afraid there will be nothing more we can do."

Konan turned her head away and Pein put a comforting arm around her shoulders. Deidara and Kisame had sunken looks while Sasori and Kakuzu turned away. Itachi remained as still as a stone, refusing to show any emotion.

"Wake up damn it!"

Everyone turned to the Jashinist who was currently standing over their resident blossom. He had a weird expression on his face. He grasped her shoulders and shook her.

"You can't die on me now, bitch! I still want a rematch for those two fucking beating, so you'd better not give in to this coma shit!" He continued to shake her shoulders. His partner put a firm hand on the foul-mouthed shinobi's shoulder.

"Shaking her isn't going to help. All we can do is wait," Kakuzu informed him of what they all knew. "Humph, it's not like her to succumb to this kind of thing anyways." It seemed like he as also trying to reassure himself as well. Not that he was trying to reassure the religious ass that was his partner but… they all need something to believe in.

And they believed in her.

Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks.

All passed by and they hoped for the best when she had twitched three weeks into the coma. It was little relief but it was enough for the moment.

All had noticed the change in the atmosphere. It was gloomier. The halls were now always quiet. Hidan even soundproofed his room. The dinner table was less lively without the chatter of their Cherry Blossom, telling them about her recent mission and such.

They realized just at what point she had changed their routinely lives. She had become a part of their lives. Someone that they could never forget, not ignore the presence of. Everyday, every hour, someone was in the room with her.

Week 1

They had noticed that the gems she gave them had stopped shining. Sure, once in a while, the light would flicker, but then it would die out. It was almost like their hope. It was staring to waver as the days went by. They kept theirs close to them at all times. On missions, they would glance at it once in a while for change. When at home, they had it in their palms or on nearby desks and when the light flickered, one would scurry over to the room only to find that she was still in the coma.

But they didn't stop believing.

Week 2

Konan usually just sat down and made some origami that she placed on the bedside table. One for each day that passed. She would sometimes talk to the unconscious girl, hoping she could at least hear the words and know she's not alone.

Week 3

Deidara came in when he had the time, which was not much since there have been rumors of another Shinobi War so they had to stay sharp on their toes. But when he could, he would come and just watch over her.

Week 4

Sasori came in as often as Deidara and just spent his time admiring her beauty. She was art. He was currently making a doll sized figurine of her, he made sure to capture all her unique traits down to that slightly large forehead. He was going to give it to her once she wakes up.

Week 5

Itachi stayed to either meditate near her or read out loud, like Konan, he was almost certain that she could hear them, so he read to her his favorite books. He would often glance up at her form in the middle of a sentence to see if she would react.

Week 6

Kakuzu did the only thing he could do in such situations. Count his money. He always felt better afterwards anyways. For every day she was unconscious, he would put a ryo on the bedside table. When she wakes up, she would not only see the origami but the little coins arranged in neat rows of seven coins a pillar. Hopefully she would wake up soon before he ran out of coins.

Week 7

Zetsu came only once in a while to check on her when no one was at the base. He too, had grown an attachment to the pink-haired kunoichi. Whether he liked it or not was for his two sides to decide. White Zetsu seems to like her while Black was skeptical to what will happen to her.

Week 8

Pein hadn't much time to see her but when he could spare the time; he would apologize over and over again, saying that it as his fault hat things got out of hand like it did. She should've never gotten hurt. He was the one responsible. He should've known the dangers of letting someone from the outside come into their lives. Yet… he could not get himself to regret his decision.

Week 9

Kisame was the one who tells her what happens at the base everyday or on the missions he had. He even brought in sake and told tales of how it was creepily quiet without her presence. At the end of each of his retelling of the days, he would always say: "It just isn't the same without ya, kid. So wake up soon so we can finally open and drink that barrel of fine sake."

Week 10

Even Hidan came in once in a while. He didn't shake or try to wake her up though. He just sat down and cleaned or polished his scythe while muttering about how troublesome she turned out to be. He just wished she would just "fucking wake up so I can have my damn revenge". Sometimes, in his mind, he could hear the "Dream on buddy, I'll still kick your ass!" Then he would proceed to hit his head and multiply stab himself.

Week 11

It had been more than two months now…

And finally…

It was early morning. The sun wasn't even out yet. That was all she could tell as her eyes slowly opened to the small sheen of light. Her limbs were numb and stiff which told her that she had been out for quite some time. Her chakra was half full and her strength was non-existent at the moment since she couldn't move any of her muscles.

Taking a deep calming breath, she tried to remember the last thing that happened. Glancing around the room, the mental picture of her pinned down onto the bed, writhing in agony came and a mental pain went through her head and she cringed.

So that's what had happened.

She closed her eyes and willed those mental images away. She wondered what had happened after that. She couldn't recall anything at all after Madara had picked her up. If she was being held captive by him, then she would've sensed it. No, she was with the ones she could trust.

Her second family.

Her room began to glow as the first rays of the sun illuminated her room. She closed her eyes a few moments from the sudden light… and when she reopened them, she gasped.

Origami papers were taped all around the room. There was a new bookshelf hanging on the wall with books that she previously saw in Itachi's personal library. On the bedside table, there was the most peculiar thing. Coins. They were piled up neatly in 11 neat piles; the eleventh one only had five coins though. Putting two and two together, she smiled at the thoughtfulness. She knew now how long she'd been out.

She smiled.

The Akatsuki really weren't that bad after all.

She heard the door open slowly and was shocked to see Madara. Her eyes widened but her body was paralyzed to the spot in all the senses of the world.

The man had cut his hair and was pleasantly surprised to see she was awake. "Oh! Sakura-chan is up!" he scrambled towards her but stopped short when panic came into her eyes. At once, he understood the problem. "Tobi promises that Madara is not here. Tobi is Tobi. Madara is Madara now." The girl was skeptical as she eyes him. Tobi just grinned and explained everything to her. He even said that is she wanted, he would get Pein to confirm what he told her. At that, she felt reassured. The pinkette tried to speak but her voice cracked.

"Tobi will get you some water right away!" then he scurried off.

When Tobi came back, she was trying to sit up but her muscles were still unused and couldn't support her. He helped her sit up and even fluffed her pillow up.

"Thanks, Tobi." She said tiredly.

"No problem! Ano… Tobi is really sorry for what happened. Tobi did not want the bad man to hurt Sakura-chan! I-I-I'm sooooooo sorry!" he then proceeded to hug the life out f her.

"I-It's okay, Tobi… I'm fine now. Okay?" she felt weird, wiping the tears off the face of a grown man. "Now, how about letting the others know that I'm awake?" Tobi nodded his head vigorously before racing down the hall while shouting: "Sakura-chan's AWAKE!"

Needless to say that woke everyone up. By six in the morning, everyone was regrouped in the room they had spent their free time in for the past two months.

Konan, as soon as she saw the girl sitting up ran over and hugged her, "I'm so glad! What a relief! You don't know how much I've been worried about you!"

Deidara was the second to come up and also hugged her, just hugged her, saying nothing, afraid that he would say something embarrassing in front of everyone. Sasori went up next, handing her a box and whispering into her ear to open it in private but she could take a peek if she wanted. She did and gasped at the beautifully detailed Sakura doll. Itachi came up and gave her a chaste kiss to the forehead. The rest just contented themselves with encouraging words (except Hidan who was demanding the rematch).

Week 12

It was a good thing that she woke up but she was as weak as a newborn kitten. The worst part was that she was having fevers on and off. The couple said it was a side effect that shouldn't last long… but at this rate, she might not be able to continue her career as a shinobi.

This news really took a toll on Sakura. The girl just stayed quiet as Houki explained the extent of the damage. The jutsu had effectively taken almost up to eight years of her life and her mind had trouble registering it and her body started to malfunction, it was nothing too serious but her body was rendered weak due to the pressure she was put under the jutsu.

Now, she didn't just feel weak physically but morally as well. Once a day, she would get out of bed and stand up, using the walls as leverage, she would walk around, getting her muscles to work once again. Of course, there was always someone with her to catch her when she fell.

Then she would always apologize.

It broke them to see her like this. If there was any way to give her the strength she needed, they would do it. Being a shinobi was her life choice. It was something that she chose to do and they might as well be damned if they didn't do something to make sure she kept going. Anyways, the Hokage wouldn't be so thrilled at the news that they had crippled her prized apprentice.

They wanted to give her life back… they just didn't know how.

"You idiot! What do you mean you lost her trace?" an aggravated female asked as she controlled her temper, ready to lash out at the boy who as currently talking to his 'pet'.

"Hey, don't blame me! Blame this useless ball of fluff!" the young man replied. He poked the white fluff in his hand. It twitched for a bit then turned pink. "Ah! I've got it! We're nearby! Let's hurry!" he said ecstatically, almost tripping over a rock in the process.

The woman with him just shook her head, "If this wasn't to find her, I would've already sent you back."

The young man just stuck his tongue out at her, "We'll find her… we have to…" They took to the skies again.

'_Wait for me Aaeru-hime.'_

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**Thank you for reading and please review!**


	21. Letting Go

**This is officially the last chapter of the Akatsuki Arc, yay! Or, to some shippers, No! Anyways, thanks for reading this far and thanks for reviewing! The next arc will being in two chapter, I have two little extra things I want to do before going back to Konoha!**

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**Chapter 20: Letting Go**

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'_Wait for me Aaeru-hime…'_

_If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life._

Sakura's eyes shot open and she looked around. Great. She was starting to hear things now. Sighing to herself, she tried to forget that awfully familiar voice. Turning to her side, she looked idly at the Sakura doll facing her. It was made of wood for the most part but it looked so realistic, he got the perfect tone of her skin and had carefully carved out every little detail. Her hair was made of some sort of soft and straight animal fur that was dyed to pink. It always made her laugh. The clothes were exact mini replicas of her Akatsuki uniform. But, over all, she just admired his work on her eyes. They seemed… so hypnotizing.

_The eyes are the windows to the soul._

Looking at the time, it was currently four in the morning. She couldn't sleep after two months of doing just that. On most nights, she would just look up at the sky and think about the days that passed. It had been eight months now that she was a part of the Akatsuki. If only Tsunade could see her now.

There was a soft knock at her door, most of them knowing that she's been sleepless for some time. The door quietly opened and a shadow popped out from behind it. Due to the still dark time, she had a hard time seeing who it was.

"Sakura-chan?"

Deidara. He was the only one who ever called her that.

"Deidara? What are you doing here so early?" there was no sound as he went into her room and approached her.

_The early bird catches the worm._

He grinned, "Come on, you've been stuck inside for way too long, we're gonna get some fresh air, 'kay?" he held out his hand to her and she took it without hesitation. Pulling her up, he noticed that she was only wearing a baggy t-shirt, probably Kisame's again. "Put something on, you're gonna catch a cold." Instead of waiting for her to go to her closet though, he shuffled over to it and randomly picked out some jogging pants with a matching sweater; putting those right over the baggy t-shirt, he let her walk on her own.

He knew how much she hated it when she was helped. But, of course, when she needed it, she would ask. She wasn't one of those people who were frustrated at the thought of being helped. Putting on her shoes, she jumped a few times to get the feeling back into her legs, testing them out. Nodding, she took Deidara's arm and they made their way out of the base.

When they got outside, Sakura took in a well needed breath, "So… care to tell me why you decided to come get me at four in the morning? You could've just waited until the sun was up."

He shook his head and smiled, "Because, we're trying to catch the sunrise, not miss it." At that, she blinked. She blinked again when he got out one of his giant clay birds. This one was different from his usual models though. It had a large beak, able to fit at least an adult in it and its back was deformed, it had a nicely sized hole in it for two.

"Huh…" she let out a breath the laughed. She gladly went up on it, sitting face to face with him, their feet were bent and their knees were touching. The take off was silent and graceful and soon, the entrance of the base could no longer be seen. The air was still chilly at this time but she could feel it rise up little by little, just like the sun. They glided around some early morning birds and some clouds, passing the few moments in silence.

Soon enough, the horizon brightened as the sun slowly came up. The sky turned from a light grey to bright orange and yellow. The world seemed to finally wake up as they started to hear birds down below and the quiet morning breezes. It was peaceful.

Deidara contemplated the woman before him. She looked really happy up here. Her eyes were sparkling, whether from the light's reflection or otherwise, he just couldn't seem to care. He just couldn't seem to realize either as he leaned over towards her. Sakura turned back to smile at him…

They parted quickly with equal blushes on their faces.

"W-We'd better go back now…" he mumbled, maneuvering his way downwards. But, as they approached the base, they could already hear voices screaming from the inside (mostly Hidan) but it wasn't normal that people would be arguing at this time of the morning. Well heck, this was the Akatsuki, anything can happen.

Sakura jumped down gracefully and looked questioningly at Deidara who just shrugged. "Everything was quiet when we left."

The noise seemed to get louder as they neared the living room. The door was closed but the voices of many members could be heard. Hidan was cursing, Konan was shouting about something or other and there were other, unfamiliar voices inside as well.

As the pinkette was about to open the door, it was swung back forcefully.

Green met brown.

Pastel pink met light brown.

"Y-Yuu?" She gasped then her vision went black.

When she regained consciousness, she could hear very angry voices near her.

"_What_ did you do to her?" a voice growled out.

"Nothing," came Itachi's cool reply.

"You call that nothing? You're saying that one of your organization's members took away almost 10 years of her life and that's nothing?" a woman's voice shouted as well.

"Like we said, it wasn't us. That man isn't a part of our organization anymore. We tried to stop him. We would never hurt her," Sasori bit out at the intruders.

Her head rang with all the shouting, "Stop being so loud!" she moaned. That caught everyone's attention.

"Sakura-chan!/Aaeru-hime!" Deidara and Yuu cried out at the same time. Yuu came to kneel next to her bed and took her hand, "Aaeru-hime, _please forgive me. I-I never meant for you to suffer so! I will do anything, anything at all to seek your forgiveness!_" he spoke in their native language.

The tall brown-haired woman rolled her eyes, "Stop being such a drama queen. Aaeru… are you okay?"

"Alti… what, how…?" were her coherent words.

"Wait, you know them?" Kisame asked, looking between the hot girl, the annoying man and their Blossom.

Sakura nodded in affirmation, "Guys, these are… my friends. This is Alti," motioning her hand to the young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. "And this is Ryuuzaki. They're siblings. And… they come from Simulacrum, my homeland."

Silence.

"So… you're the ones who abandoned her?"

Glare.

"We did not! We had no say in that! The great Guardians just decided to put her back into this world! When they find out what's happened to you, they'll really regret it. You would've been better back at Simulacrum… not with these-

The pinkette's hand on his arm stopped him from continuing that sentence, "_They've helped me a lot. More than you could know Yuu… so please… just… stop it. I'm really tired right now but nonetheless, I will not let you badmouth my second family._"

At those words, both strangers gasped. Sakura realized what she had said and immediately regretted it. She had always said that even though she was born in Sim, her first family would always be Konoha… then, Sim should have come after… yet…

Alti sighed and put a hand on her head, "It's okay… Aaeru… we understand. The war is over now. It ended three months ago. Since then… we've been looking for you in this world. Believe me, it was pretty hard considering that this world is completely different from our own. But we managed."

"The war is over eh?"

"Yeah… few casualties… thankfully. The demons finally left out land. They… I don't really know. The Guardians went all out and decided to call the Great Elders. They were the ones who sorted things out… but Elder Monkey lost his son in the battle."

"I see…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kisame interrupted, "What the hell is going on here?"

So, Sakura told the Akatsuki everything about where she was in the two years where she disappeared. They were all very stunned at the end of the story.

"So… who are these Elder people?"

"The Great Elders are Spirits. They're spirit animals that usually stay away from human quarrels. We've been allied to them since the beginning of time. There are currently three Great Elders: Elder Monkey, Elder Wolf and Elder Dragon. They're the oldest and wisest. The leader of the Demon Cat clan, Zira, used to be one too, but she betrayed them all and created a Clan of her own based on hatred."

"Reminds me of someone…"

"Whatever."

Alti rolled her eyes and turned to Sakura, "Aaeru… what are you going to do now?"

The atmosphere became tense in a second.

"I have to think about it…"

Dinner was tense that night with the two _intruders_. Sakura was not present at the dinner table for she was still thinking alone in her room.

Alti was amicable and ate the food they gave but Yuu was a different story. He sat down, pushed the plate of food away from him and crossed his arms, muttering that won't eat any of the _infect_ food they had in this world. Or more specifically, _they_ had. Of course, he said that in his own language but the Akatsuki could still, in a way, understand him and glared.

The brown-haired girl finished and gave a smile, "It was delicious, thank you. It was my first time eating food from here and I must say it's not bad at all." She glared at her brother, "_Ryuu, eat some right now or I swear…_"

He stuck his tongue out at her, "I'm the older one so I shouldn't have to take orders from my baby sister."

"Would've never guessed," Kisame mumbled under his breath.

Ryuu tightened his fist, "She'll never get better here."

That sentence started a new war as soon as it was pronounced.

Alti punched her brother's arm and lowered her head, "I am so sorry for my brother's attitude. But… in a way, he's right."

"Are you saying that there might be way to help her in your world?" They both nodded.

"There is a special spring in our world. It has properties which are still mysteries to even us, but it has worked miracles before. Not to the point of resurrecting someone from the dead but the water has healing powers." Alti bit her lip, "It could help her. Our God can help her. And… even if the water doesn't work, she would regain those years of her life by just being in Simulacrum. Time passes five times faster there than here. Here, she would have one year while there, she has five. Thus, she will be able to conserve and regain her strength." Her voice got louder and louder as she spoke but then continued in a whisper, "But…"

They heard Pein sigh, "But she is feeling guilty about leaving. Is that it?" he asked, looking at the sincere girl's eyes.

She nodded, "Yes. Aae… Sakura is a kind person. She keeps her promises and never lets anyone down. She takes all debts seriously. Right now… she has a life debt to you. You took her in when she was at her weakest and gave her a home. She owes you guys a lot. And… until she fully feels that she's paid you back… she… she…"

The sentence was left uncompleted.

The leader stood up, "Then will you excuse us…" he scanned the room, "Meeting. Now."

As they left, Alti bowed her head down. She cared for Sakura like a sister. The sister she… the little sister who actually loved her.

"_She's not Kaimu_." Ryuu told her in a cold voice.

"_I know…"_

Ryuu looked at her, _"Do you really? Ever since Aaeru has come into our lives, I noticed some things. You treat her as you would Kaimu. Alti… I'm your big brother. To us, Kaimu no longer exists. She betrayed us. I know you're scared of losing Aaeru, too… but like you said yourself. Aaeru-hime never lets anyone down while Kaimu… she wanted to exchange you for some measly talismans! Her own sister! She was ready to trade her own flesh and blood for some stones which didn't even work and destroyed her in the end!"_

Alti covered her ears with her hands, _"I know that! But… but… no… I'm not comparing Kaimu and Aaeru… you're right, Kaimu is dead to us. That's why I want Aaeru back. I want… I want to have her back because… I miss her. Not because of Kaimu." _She whipered.

Her brother hugged her, "_Good_." He sighed, "It would have been weird if you treated her like Kaimu once Aaeru-hime and I get married." He laughed.

Alti popped a vein and punched him, "_You'll never get Aaeru-hime's hand. You are so out of her league. It's a nice fantasy though. Remember, all of her suitors have to go through the 18 Guardians, and believe me, the two Guardians of Darkness really hate you." _She told him matter-of-factly.

Ryuu was about to retort when footsteps were heard and the Akatsuki came back in. They all had downer faces and the siblings knew that they had made their choice.

"Konan will be the one to speak for all of us," Pein told her.

Alti stood up from her chair and went over to Konan. She put her arms around the older woman in a hug and whispered a thank you. The blue-haired woman could do nothing but pat the other girl's back and smile sadly.

It was around midnight when Konan finally upped the courage and the heart to go into Sakura's room. She knocked once on the door and a quiet 'come in' was given. Taking a deep breath, she twisted the knob and entered the semi-dark room. The only light in the room came from the five candles on her desk, illuminating half of the area.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" she sat on the bed next to the pink-haired girl who was fiddling with her Akatsuki ring.

"Better. Things are very quiet. What happened? Hidan finally died?" she joked. Konan couldn't help but let out a laugh as well.

"I wish. But no… everything's quiet… because we have just made a difficult decision… but… it's for the best."

Sakura looked at her surrogate sister questioningly, "What are you talking about?"

"We know about the Spring in that other world. We know it can help you… but… we finally realized that the only thing standing between you and your rehabilitation… is our own selfish feelings." Konan lowered her head, "We all want you to stay, you know. Every one of us. But… we want you to be happy… and being a Shinobi makes you happy… so… we're willing to let you go."

Sakura blinked at the confession.

"Let me… go?"

Konan nodded; "Yes…" she put her hands over the younger girls' and smiled, "This was voted on unanimity. You will go with them… get better… and then…" she paused, looking for the right thing to say, "And then you can continue doing what you want to do. You have hereby paid your debt Sakura… more than you could ever know."

Tears.

Sakura felt the older girl's tears on her hands. She pursed her lips as she could also feel the water pooling up in her eyes. She flew forward and hugged the older woman, crying all the while.

Alti fidgeted nervously in the living room and almost jumped when the door opened and in came Konan and Sakura.

The pinkette smiled at Alti, "I'm going to go back." At that news, Alti flew forward and knocked the wind out of the shorter girl, "But…" she pulled away from the hug, "I'm going to stay here for two more months."

"What?" Ryuu screamed. "The longer you stay here, the worse your condition will be!" one glare from her shut him up.

"I never like to leave things unfinished. Ten months isn't what I call finished. I need the full twelve months." She looked t each of her comrades, "That's when I'll fully be out of debt." She turned to Alti, "Please come back in two months. For me."

Ryuu was about to shout some arguments but Alti covered his mouth, "Anything you want. We'll come back in two months time then."

_Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you._

During those two months, everything went somewhat back to their normal pace. Everyone doing what they were doing before the incident and just… pretending that it didn't happen and that she's going to have to leave in a few days.

Sakura took this limited time to take pictures. Kakuzu this time gladly allowed the spending of money for that one little camera. Every little thing was special. Every little moment. Some public… and some personal.

When the day came, their hearts weren't as heavy as they were when they first acquiesced to the decision. They each had spent their own alone time with Sakura prior to her departure of course.

It was a cloudy day. The sun wasn't about to come out anytime soon it seems. But it wasn't raining. It was really the perfect time… to say goodbye.

_People so seldom say I love you. And then it's either too late or love goes. So when I tell you I love you, It doesn't mean I know you'll never go, Only that I wish you didn't have to._

Ryuu pulled her one suitcase into the Simoun they would be using and just frowned as he assisted on the 'Goodbye Scene'. She had changed into a simple white t-shirt and some black shorts.

Pein approached her and handed her, her Akatsuki ring back. She took it somewhat questioningly, "You will always be a part of the Akatsuki. If you ever need anything when you come back… if anyone dares to go against you, know that we will be there. This is a symbol of this promise."

Biting her lip to stop the tears from falling, she hugged each and every one of them and placed a kiss here and there, she stepped back and did something that confused them.

She bowed low. The kind of bow that was usually reserved for much respected people. As she boarded the Simoun, she smiled and waved at them until they couldn't be seen anymore. Leaning back into her chair, Alti asked her if she was okay. She replied with a quiet yes. Ryuu than tried to lighten the mood by saying how happy the others were going to be at her return to her third family…

Yeah… her world was just getting bigger and bigger…

"**Thank you for everything..."**

_Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong- sometimes it's letting go._

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**Thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next arc! The next chapter though will be a little Bonus with three mini song-fics with four of my favorite AkaSaku couples! **


	22. Akatsuki Special Love Love Songs

**So here they are! Four little songs-fics, my first song-fics with four of my favorite AkaSaku couples! The order does not match wiht my preference of the couple whatsoever. The title of the song is in the title and the singer I will post at the end of the page!**

**Please enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: Naruto and the songs in this fic are not mine. Thank you for your comprehension, we hope you have a good reading. **

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When I fall: Deidara and Sakura

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A pink-haired girl nodded to herself in concentration as she examined the beautiful sculpture piece in from of her.

_There's no need for words,  
Deep inside of my eyes it's clear and full  
Of my feelings towards you_

Taking her small notebook in her hand and a pen, she started scribbling down some notes on what she thought about it.

_Would you give me your heart, that was whisperingly hid  
Hold my hands_

"Hello there," she jumped as the voice scared her, "Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare ya!" She looked up and on the other side of the statue was a tall blond-haired man. His hair was shoulder length and his eyes were crystal blue. He was wearing a brown overcoat with his hands shoved in the big pockets.

"H-Hello…" she stuttered out. They kept eye contact as he made the turn around the statue and held out his hand. She took it.

**Flying. She was flying with this man… on a clay bird.**

Both of them quickly parted and wondered what that was, "Have we met before?" they asked each other at the same time.

_I will never let you go  
I will wait for you, and only you_

Deidara scratched his head, "Well, I would've remembered such a cute girl like you… but… I have this sense of… what's it called again? What's that weird word?" he asked himself.

The pinkette giggled, "Déjà vu?"

"Yes! That's it!" Deidara laughed.

_When I fall  
It was love at first sight (Love at first sight)  
Cuz when I fall  
I already fell in love (Fallen in love)  
It feels as if the time has stopped  
It's as if I'm on top of the world  
I'm falling in love with u (oh~oh~oh~ oh~oh~oh~)_

Sakura giggled shyly, "Oh, where are my manners! My name's Sakura by the way. Haruno Sakura."

"Well, it definitely suits you miss. Mine's Deidara." Sakura blinked and her mouth fell open. She quickly glanced at the plate on the sculpture behind the man and read:

_Title: When I Fall  
Artist: Deidara_

"Oh! Y-Y-You were the one who made this?" she squeaked.

Deidara blinked and turned around, "Oh, yeah! This old thing… I made it when I was 15. Don't know why they still kept it though!"

Her eyes widened, "Are you serious? You're amazing! This is one of the few sculptures that I actually like. I'm more of a painting kind of girl. But your works are just amazing!"

Deidara blushed, "Why thank you!"

The pinkette quickly opened her small notebook and flipped a few pages, "I have some questions to ask you about them actually… would you… uh… would you happen to have a little time on your hands… maybe for just two or three questions?" she asked meekly.

The blond gave her a soft smile, "Well, you can ask me all the questions you want… if we talk about it over some hot coffee, how's that sound?"

_At your smiles, I dream  
I don't ever want to wake up from the sweet happiness  
I'm happy with the sweetness,  
So I don't want to wake up.  
Can you feel it?  
Please accept my heart.  
I wanna call u ma boo~ ma boo~  
Could you give me your heart? (Could you give me your heart)  
I'll always treasure it (Oh~)  
I will wait for you, and only you_

Sakura beamed, "Thank you so much! I hope I'm not wasting any of your time though…"

He shrugged, "Nah, I'm currently out of inspiration anyways." They made their out into the cold winter air. The metropolitan city was bustling with movement even with the weather but neither of the two noticed nor cared.

_When I fall  
It was love at first sight (Love at first sight)  
Cuz when I fall  
I already fell in love (Fallen in love)  
It feels as if the time has stopped  
It's as if I'm on top of the world  
I'm falling in love with u (oh~oh~oh~ oh~oh~oh~)_

They sat in a cozy little café in a little booth. They ordered some little snacks and coffee and their mini interview started.

"So, my first question is… where does you inspiration come from?" she ripped a part of her croissant and ate it then got her pen at the ready.

He leaned back into his chair and threw his head back, "My inspiration eh? Well, I mostly do my work around flying actually. Take the sculpture you just saw. It is of a bird falling to its death. Sure, it's detailed but people just fail to notice the real details. They just really look at the detail in general 'oh my, it's so detailed' but they don't take the time to actually see what it represents."

Sakura nodded, "So… what does it represent?"

Deidara hummed, "Why don't _you_ tell me what you've deduced so far?"

Putting her pen down, she put her index finger on her chin, "Well, if I remember correctly, the bird was falling, of course, but… one of its wings was reaching up to the sky… as if trying to reach something. The other wing, coincidentally, was bent and was across its chest. Actually, from my point of view, it is supposed to be a human interpretation… of what… I couldn't really figure it out. Maybe it got shot and was clutching at its wound… much like a human would. Or… maybe it's just metaphorical… a bird reaching for the sky… a dream… a goal maybe? But by the way it was clutching hi chest, she must've failed or something of the sort." She then stopped and noticed his gaze. "Umm… I got it all wrong right?"

Deidara blinked and laughed, "Oh no! You're the only one who's been this close to its true meaning! I congratulate you! And yes… it is kind of a representation of a man. It represents the despair one has… when one loses someone important. This bird wasn't shot. He fell out of his own free will… but then… as he fell, he began to regret it. It's simple really."

"I see… lost dreams," Sakura noted absently.

"Yeah…"

_Within my dark heart  
You became my light.  
My heart that was once cold  
You've warmed it up.  
Accept my love that has coated the world white  
I love you, I will promise you  
That anyone else won't do, don't like anyone else._

"Sakura… may I ask something of you?"

She looked up at him, "Sure."

"Be my inspiration."

"What?"

"Be my inspiration." He repeated as he leaned in closer. "I am the bird… and I fear that I will fall to my death as this rate. Please…" he took her hand, "Will you be willing to save me?"

_When I fall  
It was love at first sight (Love at first sight)  
Cuz when I fall_

"Yes…"

Their lips touched.

_I already fell in love (Fallen in love)_

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_A Thousand Year Love Song: Itachi and Sakura_

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16th century…

"You can't die on me… please… Itachi…" a mournful pink-haired young woman in an expensive Victorian dress kneeled down next to her lover's fading body.

_Even on the day my body vanishes, this love won't disappear  
Even the flowers will wither away, but this feeling will last long enough to take the place of 'eternity'_

"S-Sakura… love…" the dying man lifted his hand up and the young woman took it, not caring if it was drenched in the blood of men. "Stop crying… how… many… times… have I told you… not to cry?"

"But… but…" she stuttered as she put his hand on her cheek, "How can I not cry… in this kind of situation? Tell me that!"

_One thousand years of tears will drench my heart  
No matter how many times I'm reborn... until I can meet you again_

He coughed and winced when his wounds moved, his lover tightened her hold on his hand, "You shouldn't have done it… you idiot… you shouldn't have… I should have just… married that bastard… and then… and then… you wouldn't be here…" she whimpered. She heard him growl.

"Like hell I would have… let you marry that son of a bitch," one of the rare times that the noble Itachi ever cursed. "I would rather die than to see you in his arms… that _Madara_." he coughed again and unfortunately, his wounds started bleeding once more.

_Before I awaken from this fantasy, you wave to me  
in the real world, morning comes and for an instant in time, I understand  
One thousand years of wishes soar in the sky  
It's alright if they never come true, as long as I can meet you_

She looked around, looking for something that might help them but alas, all she could see were the corpses of the men he had killed to protect her.

"Sakura… love… please… give me… one more smile…" she gasped as she felt the hand on her cheek grow cold and bit her lip. She wiped her eyes with her free hand and forced her lips to turn upwards. They did, but it contradicted enormously with the tears that were falling from her beautiful eyes.

_On a journey far away, I wander alone in the gentle breeze  
The rain that falls on the withered flowers conceals the sadness  
Even with a thousand years of love (a thousand years),_

"I love you…"

"I-Itachi… Itachi…? No… no… no… please… not you… not you…"

_I can't fully express my feelings for you (I can't)  
When the moon can't be seen in the night sky, I'll be able to meet you_

22nd century…

The pink-haired girl gasped as a page of her used and very old book flew away, courtesy of the wind. "Oh no!" she yelped as she quickly ran to try and catch it. The people passing by the park looked at her weirdly but she just ignored the stares. Every page of this book was special to her.

She stopped running when she saw the piece of paper flutter down like magic onto the lap of a gorgeous man sitting on one of the park benches. He picked the page up curiously.

"Oh, excuse me!" she ran up to him and caught her breath, putting her hands on her knees, "Th-that's mine… thank you for… catching it…" he raised an eyebrow at her antics.

"Catching isn't quite the right word. More like coincidence," he said as he curiously read the passage, "I lost a piece of my heart that day… something I know I will never have back, I've never heard of this author before. She's quite good."

Sakura smiled proudly, "That's because it isn't a book. It was my great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother's journal."

"Really now?" he continued silently reading the rest of the page, "She was a poet?"

"Yes… most of her works were done after her lover died. Most of her journal talks about him actually… weird… you have some resemblance to him… long black hair… red eyes…" she continued on. He handed her the piece of paper back. She bowed to him, but on the movement, her necklace fell onto the ground.

They both reached out towards it. Their fingers and the necklace made contact.

_A beautiful woman who looked like an older version of the woman he was talking to was seen on a desk, writing on a journal with a quill, "I lost a piece of my heart that day… something I know I will never have back. But… he promised me… he promised that we would meet each other again… we would both be reborn into this world no matter how long, even of a thousand years have come and passed… because for certain… we will meet again and we will inevitably fall in love once more…"_

The voice faded away and both looked at each other questioningly.

His striking red eyes bore into hers, "I never quite caught you name," he said in his deep voice. They slowly stood up, the necklace still between their fingers.

"Sakura…" she held her hand out and instead of shaking it, he kissed her knuckles.  
"Itachi."

_One thousand years of feelings, living on in a song  
So that someday, when I'm reborn, I'll be able to meet you_

* * *

_Saying "I Love You": Pein and Sakura_

* * *

_You always ask me,  
how come you never say I love you?  
do you really love me?_

The pair walked hand in hand near the frozen waters of the small lake in the deserted park. The girl swung their arms playfully between them while the man just smiled at her antics. The moon shone down onto the lovers down below.

_But you know,  
I wanted something more sweeter,  
I want to confess to you just like those lovers from movies, so that you won't forget_

"Nee, Pein…" she stopped walking and turned to him, "Why don't you ever say 'I love you'?"

He stopped walking as well and looked at her, "I think it means more when you don't say it very often. Those words are special…"

Sakura smiled, "You're right… remember the day you confessed?" he smirked at the memory.

"Yeah… now that you mention it… it was snowing… on that day, too."

_Flashback_

_Ive waited for the white snow  
Ill confess to you now, the words Ive held back_

He led her to the roof of the school building. He was going to graduate soon while she was just a sophomore, so it was now or never.

"Haruno-san…" he started. He looked up at the cute girl. She looked very nervous about it all, her hands were clutching the bottom of her school shirt. Her pink hair was in two braids and she smiled at him.

"Yes?"

_I love you  
your smile brighter than the sunset  
your two hands that embraced me  
I love you, I love you_

"I… I have something to tell you…, well, more like confess really."

_I promise that I will never leave you  
I will always tell it to you face-to-face_

He had never felt so nervous in his life and considering that he was student body president, that was saying a lot.

"Ever since you've frequented this school… you've just turned things upside down for me," he started, "You… you aren't like the others. You help those who hurt you, like those bullies who always picked on you in your freshman year, you defended them. But…" he stopped abruptly and turned to face the protection fence at the edge.

The pink-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows in worry, "Are you okay Pein-san?"

_You ask me whats to hesitate about,  
is it that hard?  
I want to hear what you got to say_

"It's okay…" she whispered. He blinked and turned his head to her. She was looking at the sky, her arms linked at her back, "You don't have to force yourself to speak you know… I like helping people. If it's about the bullies, they stopped a while ago… thanks to you. I know that you were the one who stopped them… Konan-nee-san told me…" She blushed prettily.

_But you know,  
I wanted something more special,  
I want a special day I can always remember, so that it wont pass forgotten_

He was about to say something when her gasp interrupted him.

"It's snowing!" she exclaimed, "Ara, what luck, we're just in time for the first snowfall of the year!" she looked so happy as the snowflakes slowly descended from the heavens.

_Ive waited for the white snow  
Ill confess to you now, the words Ive held back_

That's why he loved her. She was so simple in her own complexity.

He smiled, "I've fallen in love you."

She froze and looked at him, "What?"

_I love you  
your smile brighter than the sunset  
your two hands that embraced me  
I love you, I love you_

"I have irrevocably, undeniably, completely fallen in love with you, Haruno Sakura."

_I promise that I will never leave you  
I will always tell it to you face-to-face  
I dont want to separate with you  
not even a single moment  
when I lean on you, I hope the time will stop  
I love you_

She stood there, surrounded by snow. He was almost certain that he was on his way to heartbreak when a gentle smile appeared on her lips. Her eyes softened and she slowly walked over towards him. Standing on her tippy toes, his eyes widened as her face got closer, but instead of going for the front of his face, she continued to lean over until her mouth was near his ear.

"You know what? I've also fallen irrevocably… indeniably… as well as completely… in love with you, too Pein Nagato…"

_End Flashback_

Pein delivered a sweet kiss to her forehead then down to her cheek ad finally to her lips as they just stood there. She put her arms around his neck as he put his around her waist and pulled her to him to deepen the kiss.

_I love you  
your smile brighter than the sunset  
your two hands that embraced me  
I love you, I love you_

They pulled apart slowly and leaned their foreheads against each other, his lips were still a centimeter apart from hers as he spoke, "I promise that I will never leave you…"

_I promise that I will never leave you  
I will always tell it to you face-to-face_

"I promise as well…"

_I love you, I love you  
loving you, loving you  
I love you_

* * *

_Forever Love: Sasori and Sakura_

* * *

_Shining right before our eyes,  
The glittering sunset  
Inside my chest, a profound love  
Like nothing I have ever felt before_

The red-haired young man sat on the edge of his bed, in his hands a photo framed picture of his lover and himself during the festival named after her, a Sakura Matsuri. She was beautiful in her soft kimono, that day. He smiled at that precious memory. One that would stay forever.

_If I say to myself that I'm fine on my own,  
I'm telling a lie  
I've been passing time like this,_

The door to their apartment opened and he heard her light heels clicking on the floor before they went silent, telling him that she just stepped on the carpeted floor. He sat still on the edge of their bed and just waited until her footsteps were heard and the door to their bedroom was opened.

Her cute head popped from behind it, "What are you doing here in the dark Saso-kun?" she asked with a bit of amusement.

_But from now on,  
You're the only one I'll never part from_

He smiled and held out his hand. She quickly made her way in, threw off her shoes and took his hand. Immediately, he pulled her to him until they were sprawled onto the bed with her on top of him. He took her scent in.

_Time and time again  
I'll send it to you, what you're looking for  
All your hesitation will melt away,  
Let's live and forever love_

She pushed herself up and put her hands on his chest as the only cushion between him and her. He ran one of his hands through her hair, pushing it back away from her eyes. She always got scolded by him because of that. Her eyes were his favorite features on her. Not that they were the only things he liked about her but he was really an eye person. Some were legs, some were chest, and he focused on the eyes.

_With shadows inching closer on a steep path,  
The feel of your clasped hand  
It seemed like that gently, tenderly erased the pain_

She brushed the back on her hand over his cheek before lowering her head down to meet their lips.

"I missed you…" he murmured into her lips. He could feel her smile as she responded back to him.

"I missed you, too…" she said and pulled back to his chagrin. She laughed at that. Running her hand through his unruly hair, she pecked his lips one more time, "I'm gonna change real quick and then we can have some more time to ourselves 'kay?"

She stood up but his hand caught her arm. She giggled, "Oh come now, I'll be out in ten minutes." He pulled her to him and met their lips again for good measure before finally letting her go. She disappeared behind the walk-in closet and he was left all alone again.

He, of course, had a job, but it wasn't like he had to go to it everyday. He was an artist. He just had to make it, send it and get paid. He remembered when he told Sakura that. She was frustrated, saying that he had it pretty easy while she works at the hospital 40 hours a week and still doesn't get paid even half of what he wins in a single one of his works.

But she learned to live with it.

_You're the only love forever_

She finally came out from the closet dressed in one of his red shirts and her black shorts. She jumped onto the bed behind him and put her arms around his neck. Her right hand going over to where his heart was, he placed his left hand on top of that one. She placed her chin on his shoulder and sighed, worn out from the day.

"You okay, Saso-kun? You've been unusually quiet today…" she remarked while rubbing comforting circles on his chest.

He turned his head towards hers, "It's nothing." She furrowed her eyebrows and jutted out her lip at him. It was the expression that said that he was lying and she demanded the truth. He leaned the side of his head against hers, "I'm just… scared."

Now that, she wouldn't have guessed, "Scared of what?" genuinely curious as to what he was scared of. In all the years she's known him, which was about roughly five years, he's never, ever shown any fear. At lest, none that she knows about anyways.

"Of losing you."

_No matter when  
I'm confident that I'll protect you forever  
The thorns stuck deep within your heart  
If they're pulled out, I'll hold you close  
An endless dream_

She squeezed him, "But that won't happen," she murmured into his neck, placing a comforting kiss there.

He pulled away from her and turned to face the young woman, "It might. Sakura… I…" he pulled her into a hug, "I won't be able to live without you… you know that right?"

He heard her sigh, "Yes, you can. Stop being so dramatic…" he held her shoulders looked her into her eyes.

"No. I can't. I won't be able to stand being in a world without you. It would become Hell for me. If you… if you disappeared… I would die. Maybe no physically… but mentally. I love you too much." He kissed her. "I love you." Kiss. "I love you." Kiss. "I love you."

_Time and time again I'll grant it for you,  
Everything that you wish for  
The single most undeniable brilliance in this world,  
BELIEVE IN LOVE_

"I'll never leave you Sasori… never…" she whispered to him as he laid her down onto her back. Those words seemed to calm him down. Wrapping her arms around his head, she pulled him down t her chest where he could hear her beating heart.

"You hear that? It's not going to stop beating." She decided to leave out the 'not anytime soon'. She just held him there and let him listen to her heartbeat, knowing that when he was a child, his mother died with him in her arms. They were on a rocking chair and he was listening to his mother's heartbeat when it suddenly stopped. The beating stopped and his mother died. Since then, he's been traumatized and always asked for her to take care of her health. At night, he would lay like this, his ear pressed against her chest to hear the steady beating of his lover's heart.

A heart that belonged to him now.

_Time and time again I'll give it to you,  
What you're looking for  
All your hesitation will melt away  
And let's live, together_

"I will always you… until the end of time…"

_You're the only love forever_

* * *

**I hope you guys all liked it! Please tell me if I did good! Anyways, before going back to Konoha, there's going to be two or so more chapters with only one main couple! I repeat, the next two or three chapters will contain one main couple (well, maybe some little minor) but I really want to do this before getting on to the real action!**

**Thank you again for reading and please review!**


	23. Trauma

Hey peoples, it's me and here's a new chapter. For those who choose to ignore these things, too bad for you cause this is important. There will be some words that aren't in your dictionary throughout the story. If you don't read, you won't understand comprende?

**Simoun: aircraft with two pilots (pic link on my profile at the very bottom)  
Sagitta: the navigator/shooter in the back/on top  
Auriga: the main pilot in the front of the Simoun  
Simile: training Simoun with only one seat **

**Please don't go complaining to me if you didn't read this and did not understand. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Please enjoy~**

**There's a surprise at the bottom! ;D**

* * *

Chapter 21: Trauma

She looked up into the dark night and amusedly thought about how she missed _them_ already. The quiet and graceful Simoun glided its way through the skies; they had made a makeshift compartment for her for the usually two place passengers.

Ryuu, who was supposed to be the Auriga was just relaxing in the Sagitta's seat, not worried at all while his sister, who was used to be the Sagitta couldn't control the Simoun quite yet wobbled a bit every once in a while.

"Ryuu! Stop being so lazy and pilot!" she shouted at her brother. She was glaring at him from the small screen in front of her. She really was not mean to lead, all the Sagitta has to do is navigate them in the right direction and use the machine guns but as Auriga, she was pitiful.

"Oh come on now sis, you'll have to learn to be Sagitta someday, so why not start now!" he replied. He turned in his seat and smiled at the scene of Sakura sleeping. "Anyways, I think your rocking has put Hime to sleep." He gently brushed back some strands of her exotic-colored hair and caressed her cheek. "I'm glad to have you back… Aaeru-hime…" he whispered to her before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Stop flirting and take my place, there's going to be a meteor shower soon and unless you want to die, I suggest you pilot.

Ryuu sighed in aggravation, "Fine!" They switched places and got ready. Alti almost screamed in joy as she held the control bars and got ready to fire, finally comfortable in her own chair. Ryuu cracked both of his knuckles, a feral grin growing on his face.

Alti looked back at the sleeping girl, "Don't make any sudden movements though, unless you want her to wake up with a nice bump on her head."

"Roger that."

The brown-haired girl huffed at how good her brother was at this. Of course, no one was as good as Sakura when it came to being Auriga though. She is a genius, that girl. Ryuu was named the Argenteus, which means Silver in their language (Latin). But, after Sakura had beaten him, she was named Aurea, which means Gold.

After that defeat, Ryuu did everything he could to try and beat the Sybilla Aurea. Alti smiled at the memory of him staying up until ungodly hours of the night to try and think of ways he could beat her. He had some weird ideas, some brilliant and some just plain crazy. They never worked. Soon though, he came to realize that it wasn't him, it was her. Sure, he worked hard, but he realized that she worked even harder.

Ryuu glided his way gracefully and skillfully through the meteor barrier and remembered the day when he realized just how amazing Sakura was.

_Flashback_

"_Aha!" he shouted in triumph._

"_What is it now? Oh, don't tell me, you finally found a way to beat Aaeru." Alti said boredly._

"_No… I've finally found a _tactic_ to beat her! I'm going to investigate on what she does in a day. I'll show everyone that she always gets her way even though she has no real talent!"_

"_You mean you're gonna stalk her?" his sister summed up._

_He glared at her, "Stalking and _investigating_ are two __**completely**__ different things baby sister! Now, quiet, I must go incognito."_

_Alti rolled her eyes, "Moron."_

_So, for the whole day, he followed whenever she went… and… realized… at the end of the day, that she did at least thrice as much things that he does to get stronger. She trained at least an hour with each Guardian and still trains after that which would make 9 hours of non-stop training a day._

_He trains a third of that time._

_She catches her own food from their world, goes hunting and still makes time to cook it and have one of the most delicious meals he's ever tasted in his life (he found out well after this episode of course)._

_He goes home, his sister prepares their meal, he eats then he goes. No hunting, no cooking, just eating._

_She finds time to sail the skies in her Simile at least two hours a day and still finds time to help out the women in harvesting the plants when she can._

_He practices one or two hours a day in his Simile and always complains when Alti asks his to go help the other women._

_She would go to the other Clans and learn about their culture, their ways, for each one of the nine elements had their own way of life. She even takes the time to learn how to make their clothes and all that._

_He couldn't care less about any of the other cultures other than his own, which was Water._

_She loves children and would always make them happy, either by playing with them, no matter how childish the game, or teaching them._

_Babies cry at the sight of him and children hate him, period._

_When his 'investigation' went from one day to two weeks, you know, just to make sure that she didn't hear about his super investigation plan and decided to do all those things that day. Turns out, she did this and more every single day._

"_So, done stalking yet?" Alti asked, chewing on a fruit._

_He glare at her, "I was not- oh, never mind."_

"_You still don't see it, do you?" she asked exasperated._

"_See what?"_

_She gave him a look, "Oh come on. You know what to do. Don't play stupid and ignore your giant tree sized ego for once, will you? She can help you."_

_End flashback_

And she did. He swallowed his pride and did something that the villagers still wonder why he did it to this day.

_Flashback_

_He mumbled and muttered to himself as he made his way to the small house in the middle of the Shiki (season) lands. He stopped before her door and knocked three times, standard politeness. He could hear some pots and pans clinking together and a small voice shouting 'coming'!_

_The door was opened and what he saw will forever stay in his mind. What would your reaction be if you opened your front door and found a little girl, no older than six, staring up at you with blood on her clothes and a bloody butcher knife in one of her hands?_

_Well, that's what he saw. Except that she was fifteen and that he knew she was an assassin before… but it still gave him the creeps._

"_Uh… hey, Aaeru… can I, talk to you?" he asked, suddenly unsure about it._

_She wiped her hands on the bloody apron and smiled, "Sure thing. But, would you mind waiting? I'm currently getting my lunch ready, you're welcome to join me afterwards." She suggested._

"_Uh… sure, why not," and he entered her modest abode. He looked around for a bit, not wanting to stay alone in her home, he decided to follow her. When he got to the kitchen, his eyes widened as he looked at the scene before him._

_There she was: pink frilly apron and butcher knives in each hand cutting up a pig expertly. Her movements were swift and precise, a dangerous combination. They were almost a blur when she moved, it almost seemed surreal and now he could really believe that she was an assassin before this. Suddenly, one of the butcher knives made its way to the wall, dangerously close to his poor ear and another was at his throat._

_They blinked at each other. She quickly removed the knife from behind him and lowered the one at his neck._

"_Oh, I'm so sorry! But you really shouldn't sneak up on people like that!"_

"_You invited me in." He stated._

"_Yes, and I thought you were in the living room!" she pouted, "I could have hurt you!"_

_He found that she was caring. Like, if she wasn't skewering pigs, she was taking care of babies. She was really bipolar._

_Anyways, an hour later, they sat at her dinner table and he got a taste of heaven. The food was… was… well, he couldn't even find the word for it, it was so good! She smiled at his enthusiasm as he finished the whole pot, "I'm glad you liked it. Now, what were you going to tell me?" He calmed down after the food and asked if they could talk in the living room. They both settled down and she patiently waited._

"_Have you got a Pal yet?" he asked her._

"_No, I don't. I'm still thinking about it actually," she looked at her hands, "A Pal is someone special that Sybillas have. If the Pals are not complimentary, the Simoun won't work. I'm afraid I haven't found anyone yet, all the people who have asked me weren't compatible." She said to him, sighing sadly. "But, I can't become a full Sybilla without one."_

_He stood up and went over to her, kneeling in front of her, he took her hands in his, and said, "I know I haven't been very… friendly towards you… but, now, I've realized something." She tilted her head in confusion. "You are an amazing person. One of the most amazing ones I know. The amount of respect I now hold towards you now almost equals to the respect I have towards the Guardians. I'm skilled, but I need someone to keep me in check. So… Aaeru, would you be my Pal?"_

_End flashback_

"I remember the first time you two flew together… at first, the Simoun gem wouldn't go," Alti said.

Ryuu nodded, "Yeah, we almost lost hope there. But… you know what she told me?"

"What?"

"When you lose hope, everything around you will come crashing down, and… it started. It worked and we flew. It was one of the moments of my life that I will never forget."

"I bet. But hey… I've always wanted to ask you… when did you fall in love with her? I mean, you were just really good friends when you started being Pals… and now…"

"Well… I don't really know… maybe it was because of that little incident…"

_Flashback_

_He scratched his head, looking at all the plans scattered on the floor. He groaned out loud and finally threw the quill he was holding on the floor._

"_Ah, hell! No matter what I do, she's already two steps ahead of me!" he shouted in frustration._

"_Ryuu! Some people are trying to sleep, now shut up and go to sleep!" his sister yelled at him and threw a pillow at his head. He easily caught it and threw it back, earning a 'oof' and a growl. He snickered but quickly ran out of the house. Alti could be pretty crabby when she doesn't get enough sleep._

_He stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed, "How does she do it? She wasn't even raised here and she's already a superstar. I bet she hasn't worked a single hard day in her life! She gets everything so easily, just because she's cute." He stopped his train of thought, "No, she is not cute… no… nothing is cute about her, not her doe eyes, not her button nose, not her pouty lips… ah damn it." He absently kicked a rock._

_He was about to kick it again when he heard some splashing. He quickly hid in the bushes and peeked from over it. It was a small pond, almost completely hidden by some normal sized trees. He looked around but saw no one. It must have been his imagination. He shrugged and was going to go home for some sleep when there was another splash._

_He blinked and turned red when he saw that it was a girl. A girl was in the water for a midnight swim. He slowly backed away when the moonlight shone on the mysterious girl._

_Oh, my, god._

_It was Sakura. Her hair splayed around her like a curtain and floated above the water. Her bright green eyes shone in the moonlight and her pale skin glowed. He wanted to turn away but couldn't. So he stayed there and watched her swim around for god knows how long. When she finally came out of the water, she looked like a goddess. The white sleeping dress she had on stuck to her skin and she just looked so radiant._

_End Flashback_

That's when he fell in love with her.

"Wow… wait until I tell her!"

"Alti!"

"Just kidding! Oh! We're here! Yay! Finally!"

They landed with some noise which woke Sakura up. Blinking, she noted that the sky was blue.

"**No shit, Sherlock," **her dormant-until-now inner said as she yawned.  
_"Wow… where have you been this time?" _  
**"Well, girl, you really didn't need me that much. You seemed perfectly fine with those **_**purrfectly fine**_** men!" **her inner noted, **"I knew you were in good hands so I took some down time, you know?"  
**_"And you're back…" _Sakura sighed.  
**"You make that sound like it's a bad thing! Yes, I'm back… only because **_**you**_** need me again," **Inner smirked smugly, **"As long as you feel this way… I will always appear and keep you company. If you didn't have me, you would've committed suicide a looong time ago," **Inner said knowingly.  
_"You're kidding… right?"  
_**"I wish I was. But let's stop talking about what could have been. I'm here now to help you get through this trauma of yours."  
**_"Trauma? What trauma?"  
_**"Don't kid yourself girl. Just admit that the episode with Madara Uchiha left some kind of mental scar for you. I'm here to help you. And so are they, so heads up."**

"Sakura? You okay?" Alti asked worriedly.

The said girl nodded, "Yeah, sorry, just zoned out a bit there." Alti nodded in understanding and jumped off the Simoun. Ryuu, or Yuu, as she liked to call him appeared and helped her off. When her feet touched the grass, she felt the Sacrea of all living creatures again. She took a deep breath to welcome them all in.

She looked around and noticed with a nostalgic smile that she was right where she had landed almost three years ago now. The same floating structure, the neat grass… the only thing that changed now was that the dark aura coming from the western side of the land was no more. She gazed at the barren land, void of any Void demons.

"Where did they all go?" she asked quietly.

The brown-haired girl shrugged, "We don't really know. It was quite amazing when the whole Clan just… disappeared. You know, Zira lost her cub. That's why they fled."

"What…?"

Alti sadly looked at the landscape, "During the war… Zira became a mother. But then… we heard that her cub died. They seemed to lose all hope as Zira gave up the will the continue living. You could say… it wasn't really a nice victory. We all paid our respects to the Great Spirit but she hated us even more, blaming it on us. She proclaimed that she never wanted to hear of us ever again and just disappeared."

"I see…"

Ryuu sighed at the mood, "Oh come on! Aaeru is back! Don't fret about things in the past! Everybody's probably already waiting for our arrival." With that, they made their way to the heart of the land. Passing by the familiar scenery, she noticed that they had already fixed the things that were destroyed during the war.

As they neared the nine giant trees, she could already hear the bust bustle of people working. They were all gathered in the middle of the circle for harvest sharing. Of course, because everyone was busy getting their share of food, the adults did not notice heir arrival.

It was the kids.

The kids, who had grown since she had met them, immediately recognized her as they yelled out:

"Aaeru is back! Aaeru is back!"

All actions stopped and all the villagers turned to look at the commotion. They were shocked for a little while before the kids all ran to hug her. The adults soon followed.

Sakura smiled and tears couldn't help but fall from her eyes, "Oh, look how you all grew! I can't even recognize most of you anymore! Five years is a long time… isn't it?" she asked more to herself than anyone else. The women all welcomed her back with tight hugs and the men with happy nods. They immediately ushered her to the Light tree where they said all the Guardians were. The villagers quieted down to make sure the Guardians were surprised.

Standing in front of the giant double door reminded Sakura of the first day and she was all nervous again. With a deep breath, the women guarding the door immediately opened them.

"You go in first," she whispered to Yuu as she pushed him in front of her. He just chuckled but complied, entering the large room. He kneeled right away when the Guardian's attention went to him. Outside, Alti was pushing Sakura through the front door.

"Oh, don't be so immature Aa-e-RU!" At the last syllable, she pushed the pinkette and she fell through the doorway.

"Hey! That wasn't nice!" she exclaimed but then stiffened when she looked up and saw the shocked and some happy faces of her dear mentors. In a second, she was enveloped in a warm hug by Lumiale. He squeezed her, whether to reassure her or to just see if she was real, she didn't know nor did she care. The others soon followed with hugs of their own. They all looked a bit guilty but she just smiled reassuringly at them. Looking around the room, she found a lone pigtail popping out from behind one of the chairs.

She excused herself as she pushed her way to the chair where a panic-stricken woman was hiding behind.

"Ange-hime…" she whispered. The woman slowly stepped away from her only form of protection and, eyes shut close, she shouted.

"I-I'm so sorry Aaeru-chan! I really am!" she exclaimed as tears ran down her cheek. She was always quite the emotional woman. Sakura just giggled a little before enveloping the older woman in a hug.

"_Thank you… thank you so much."_

Ange blinked, "What?" said her voice along with nine others. Yuu, forgotten in the background knew what she was talking about and pouted. That night, they had a party to celebrate her homecoming. It was nighttime already and they had started a rather large bonfire in the middle of the land.

The pinkette smiled sadly as she realized that no matter how she looked at it, Simulacrum was always going to be her third home. Her first was, evidently, Konoha, where she was brought up for twelve years of her life… and her second home…

She fingered the Akatsuki ring around her neck, attached to her neck by a ribbon of fabric from one of her ripped Akatsuki dresses. She closed her eyes and ignored to the joyous shouts and screams for now… she imagined she was back at that moist, dark and shady base, eating dinner. Then visions of her simple apartment came. The dinners where Neji and Shikamaru would come over and they would debate about everything and nothing.

Her world was split apart into three.

The question was… when the time came…

Which would she choose?

One week has passed already since her return and after a few parties here and there, it was time for her recovery time. Lumiale, being head of the Healing department got a full diagnostic and was very worried about her current health. They gave her some 'miracle medicine' made of the most disgusting things from plants to bugs.

"You've suffered physically and mentally over the past year you spent in that other world. I can sense the fatigue and the trauma from those past events flowing erratically through you," he whispered to her as he emitted healing waves to her body, trying to get her to relax.

Sakura pursed her lips and tried to relax her body in the lukewarm water she was currently floating in. Lumiale was trying to 'clean out' her bad energy using one of the healing techniques he knew.

"Telling someone about it always helps, you know, and I'm always here to lend an ear," he smiled gently at her, like always.

She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, "I've never felt so scared in my whole life," she finally admitted. "The experience in itself was traumatizing, the person who did it was just a twisted added bonus." She got up from the little fountain she was laying in, the bathrobe soaked. The blue-haired water master handed her a towel and she seated herself at the edge of the fountain, he sat next to her.

"In my line of work, you shouldn't be afraid of death. It's… just not right. There is always a 50 percent chance that you might not make it out alive. I've learned to cope with that fact, knowing the risks, I still take them. But that day… I really _did_ want to die. That situation awakened that part of me again…

The part of me who wanted nothing more than to disappear.

Resigned to my fate, I felt helpless… useless… weak… I couldn't even fight back while my comrades saved me. You could say… I had completely lost it. In those... twenty minutes… when he first activated the jutsu… I felt like he was ripping my soul apart. I felt weaker and weaker until my body stopped responding completely.

Then it began… I just watched from empty eyes as my friends tried to save me. But in my mind… I was thinking…

Why bother?

Why do they bother saving someone like me?

This man… this person who was taking away my life was promising me a world without all _this_... so why bother? I was… under the impression that what that man did was good. It was for the best. Then I felt it. I sensed it. I could hear their voices… shouting out at me…

"_Don't you dare die!"_

Pein-sama… Itachi… Sasori… Deidara… Konan… Kisame… Kakuzu… Zetsu… even Hidan.

They had saved me. I hold them at heart as much as Neji-kun and Shika-kun… because they saved me as well. But… by the time I realized this… Madara Uchiha was already long gone and I had been in a coma for over two months. What I did not tell them… was that every night after that… I was plagued with the memory of dying. I didn't dare sleep anymore. I just… couldn't. I was… and still am afraid of that man. And that won't change." She finished with a sob.

Lumiale encased her in his embrace, "Shh, now, now… it's over now." He took her face in his hands and wiped away her tears with his thumb, "You can get through this… Sakura." He smiled sadly at her, "I've come to realize that you've never really been Aaeru. You've never really belonged here."

She was about to retort when he stopped her, "You've been here… for eight years… and still, you hold not as much love to us as you do the people who you have known for only a year! You came to care and love them in a year while it took you several to be comfortable here. Maybe it's because they know you better, coming from the same world, the same lifestyle. But… please… this time… let us save you. Okay?"

Taking in the beautiful sight of her home, she went towards it, feeling a little better. She slowed her steps when she saw Ryuu sitting on the ground, his back leaning against her door. When he saw her, he stood up.

"Yuu? How long have you been waiting for me?" she asked, confused at what he was doing here so late.

He scratched his head, "A while… I was hoping to catch you before the sun sets actually. Can I… talk to you? In private?" She looked behind him and actually realized that it was going to be dark soon.

"Sure, come in," she opened her door and beckoned him inside. She took the couch and he opted to stand. Sakura looked at him weirdly. "Is… everything… okay? You seem very… un-Yuu-like all of a sudden," she noted his stiff posture and he was pacing a little around the room.

He looked up and gave a reassuring grin, "Yeah, I'm… okay. Anyways…" he stopped pacing and faced her, "Aaeru… I've… I've…" he sighed, "You've never really looked at anyone here, have you?" he finally asked. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not knowing what he was talking about. He began to elaborate, "From your time here… I've noticed a few things about you. First of all, you are very talented and I don't know why your old team left you!" she giggled at that, "Second of all, you have never looked at one guy here in Sim. I mean, I can count on my fingers and toes the number of boys trying to catch your attention! Yet… you've never really noticed."

He put up a hand to top her from saying anything first, then laughed bitterly, "I mean, I've been in love with you… for _five years_! We're even _Pals_, the second closest thing to a marriage bond that we can get! And you've… you've never even noticed." He finished quietly.

Sakura sat there, completely stunned and a little guilty, "Oh, Yuu, I'm…"

"Please… just… stop," he said before she could humiliate him any more, "So… my question is… what's wrong with us? What… is the difference between _them_ and _us_… between them… and _me_?" he asked weakly, almost desperate.

She was speechless. Her best friend just confessed to her and had asked her what was wrong with him. "Yuu… I really don't know how to answer that…" she replied quietly, "You're… They're…" she bit her lip, really not knowing what to say any longer.

"Just tell me what you think. I just need to know that." He strained out.

She at least owed him that, "I've come here… to get stronger. I haven't even thought of the eventuality where I would stay here and build a family… I've… never really thought about that here. I very much like this world, I assure you, I love it… but… it's just not right for me. I need to feel alive… I need to go on missions, I need to…"

"Kill?"

She snapped up her head towards him, "What?"

He was wearing an emotionless face, "Your so called lifestyle is made up of bloodshed. You kill people. And you like that better than here where it's peaceful. You… are a murderer." He said coldly.

She glared at him, "I do that because if I don't, my loved ones will die! Do you think it makes me happy to know that I've got blood on my hands? I know that those people that I've killed might have had families and loved ones too… but we're all selfish like that, aren't we?" she asked him.

The brown-haired young man turned to her with cold eyes, "No… only _your_ kind."

She gasped, "_My_ kind? You… you can't understand. You can't understand the kind of _sacrifice_ we all have to go through. Not until you've lost someone to them." He shook his head and with a sigh, he stormed out of her house, slamming the door in his wake.

Sakura flinched and broke into tears on her couch.

The next day, she woke up to frantic knocking on her door. She groaned in annoyance and buried her head further into her pillow, trying to ignore the sound. When the knocking didn't stop and on the contrary, got more frantic, she got up afraid that the poor door would finally give out.

"Coming!" she shouted.

Getting up, she quickly checked herself to see if she was presentable before answering the door. When she opened it, she found one of the village girls looking frantic. "Ah! Aaeru! You must come! There's horrible news!" the girl about her age shouted.

Sakura rubbed her eyes, "What happened?"

"Ryuuzaki's gone."

She quickly made her way towards the hut where most have gathered. Everyone went out of her way as she passed through the crowd. Entering the abode, she found Alti standing stiffly in the middle of the room. The pinkette cautiously approached.

"Alti?"

In two seconds flat, she suddenly felt a burning sting on her left cheek. She looked up to see Alti there, her hand in the air and her eyes brimming with tears.

"This is all your fault! You… You… I can't believe it!"

Shaking out of her stupor, Sakura asked slowly, "What happened?" The response was Alti pushed something forcefully into her hands. It was a piece of paper. Opening it, her eyes widened as she read its content.

"Oh no…"

_I've gone to see for myself what's so special about them._

Sakura's eyes widened, her mouth slackened and the piece of paper in her hand fell lifelessly to the ground. "This is all your fault!" the worried sister screamed, "I've seen what they can do and it's… inhumane! He's never gonna make it out alive!"

Sakura took a deep breath, "No, have some faith in him… I'm sure he'll be okay."

_I hope…_

"Get out of here," Alti ordered, "Get out."

Sakura left with a heavy heart. She had lost her best friends and her Pal. She had feeling it was going to be a very crappy day.

And it was.

Since she was still recovering, she could do no training or hard labor like helping out the women with the harvesting, the kids were all ushered inside when the first lightning stroke… and she didn't have a Pal to ride her Simoun. Sighing, she took her Simile for a quick ride before the thunderstorm started.

Sailing over the giant trees, she could make out Ryuu's hut and guilt ate away at her heart. She never should have said anything to him. This world and that world were so different! She just couldn't believe that he actually left.

'_I hope he's alright… I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to him…'  
_**'Don't beat yourself up… you couldn't of known. It's just… fate maybe? Maybe he was destined to leave and to explore the world we live in,'**Inner said reassuringly.  
_'You're starting to sound like Neji… personally, I don't believe in destiny. Haha, like Naruto said, 'we make our own destiny' you know?'  
_**'And so he did. I'm sure he'll be alright… he's too stubborn to die, anyways,' **Inner exclaimed with a frustrated sigh.  
_'Yeah… you're right… thanks.'  
_**'No problem! Oh and, look down, something's going on near the Portal.'  
**_'Maybe Ryuu came back?'  
_**'I doubt it… but check it out!'**

Sakura nodded to herself and gracefully maneuvered the Simile down to the ground. Turning it off quickly, she jumped out and approached the crowded guardsmen.

"_What's going on?" _she asked them in their native language. One, who immediately recognized her voice turned to her with a grim face. _"Is it Ryuu? Is he hurt?" _she was imagining the worst. Thankfully, the guard shook his head in denial.

"_Even worse Aaeru-hime… a stranger got in…" _he told her. Her eyes widened and she marched through the crowd which made way for her. But… as she went further to the middle of the crowd… her steps slowed.

Her heart beat faster.

Her head spun.

Golden blond hair… bright blue eyes… sun-kissed skin…

"N-Naruto?"

* * *

**Ta-da! I just loooove cliffhangers, don't you? So, surprised? I hope so. The next chap will be full of NaruSaku and only NaruSaku, thats the pairing that I was talking about in the last chap! But no worries people, this will stay a MultiSaku fic! I just thought that Naruto deserved something more! Ganbatte!**

**Please review!**


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